• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.51-61
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• 2023

Purpose - Since COVID-19, the government's expansion of liquidity to stimulate the economy has resulted in an increase in private debt and an increase in asset prices of such as real estate and stocks. The recent sharp rise of the US Federal fund rate and tapering by the Fed have led to a fast rise in domestic interest rates, putting a heavy burden on the Korean economy, where the level of household debt is very high. Excessive household debt might have negative effects on the economy, such as shrinking consumption, economic recession, and deepening economic inequality. Therefore, now more than ever, it is necessary to identify the causes of the increase in household debt. Design/methodology/approach - Main methodology is regression analysis. Dependent variable is household loans from depository institutions. Independent variables are consumer price index, unemployment rate, household loan interest rate, housing sales price index, and composite stock price index. The sample periods are from 2017 to May 2022, comprising 72 months of data. The comparative analysis period before and after COVID-19 is from January 2017 to December 2019 for the pre-COVID-19 period, and from Jan 2020 to December 2022 for the post-COVID-19 period. Findings - Looking at the results of the regression analysis for the entire period, it was found that increases in the consumer price index, unemployment rate, and household loan interest rates decrease household loans, while increases in the housing sales price index increase household loans. Research implications or Originality - Household loans of depository institutions are mainly made up of high-credit and high-income borrowers with good repayment ability, so the risk of the financial system is low. As household loans are closely linked to the real estate market, the risk of household loan defaults may increase if real estate prices fall sharply.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.221-232
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• 2003

This study examined the investment in human capital of Korean urban households. Data for this study were from the 2001 Household Income and Expenditure Survey and consisted of a sample of 2,681 households. The results of Gini's concentration coefficient showed high inequality of investment in human capital. To investigate which factors influence investments in human capital, various socio-demographic variables were analysed. High investment in human capital is shown in high society indicating that they transmit the advantage of education to their descendants. The results of this study is useful for welfare professionals who work in family well-being.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.717-741
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• 2012

This paper investigates the role of perceived income hierarchy and political affiliation in individual attitudes toward environmental protection. Estimation results show that rises in perceived income hierarchy increase the possibility of agreement to an increase in taxes to prevent environmental pollution in general, but not linearly increase it. As individuals are more satisfied with the financial situation of their household, they are more likely to agree to an increase in taxes. These results imply that individual attitudes toward environmental protection can be deteriorated even though average household income level increases, if either the degree of financial satisfaction decreases or income inequality worsens. We find that there is no difference between the liberals and the conservatives on the likelihood of paying additional tax to prevent environmental pollution. This result differs from the cases of Western society, which indicate that the liberals are more likely to pay for environmental protection.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.131-141
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• 2020

This study examines the poverty indicators in Northeast region of Thailand by adopting the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) methodology and the national survey of Minimum Basic Needs (MBN) of Thailand. Data are collected from three different districts in Khon Kaen province namely: Khok Po Chai, Sam Sung, and Nam Pong. The sample size is 187 households. Data analysis uses Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression approach and includes 7 dimensions of poverty (health, environment, education, economy, Thai value, asset? empowerment, and digital literacy) with a total of 41 indicators. This study has found that poverty indicators in Khon Kaen province remains centered around the aspects of health and employment dimensions. While a change of family structure in the Thai society since 1960s reduces the family size, household saving substantially increases over the years. The effects of health dimension in poverty, on the other hand, appears on the other poverty dimension of Thai value, which include (1) a bad living habit of head of household (smoke or alcohol consumption) that links with illness and disease, (2) religious practice, and (3) chronic illness. Lastly, there are income gaps of different careers in the area, which suggests the issue of income inequality.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.63-75
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• 2007

Purpose: With economic development and prolonged longevity, the level of health and health disparities have became growing concerns for individual and society as well. Since youth's health status are influenced by households' socioeconomic status and associated with heath status in later stage of life, assessing health inequality in the youth is a significant step toward lessening health disparity and promoting health. We measured health inequality in high school students and decomposed it into health factors. Methods: The subjects included 3,787 high school students of 12th graders from the Korea Education and Employment Panel (KEEP) in 2004. True health status was assumed as a latent variable and estimated by ordered logistic regression model. The predicted health was used as a measure of individual health after rPSraling to [0,1] interval. Total health inequality was then measured by Gini coefficient and was decomposed into health factors. Results: Health inequality in high school students was observed. Of total health inequality, 44% was explained by biological factors such as body mass index (BMI) (32.5%) and gender (13.5%). Behavioral factors such as smoking, drinking, physical activity, hours in bed and hours of computer ussge added to 11.7%. Household income and work experiences explained 5.6% and 8.8%, respectively. School satisfaction explained 14.6%. Other school related factors such as self-assessed achievement and experience of being bullied accounted for 15.5%. Conclusion: Among the health factors, biological factor was the most important contributor in health disparity. Other factors such as health behaviors, socioeconomic factors, school satisfaction and school related factors exhibited somewhat similar magnitude. For policy purposes, it is recommended to look into modifiable factors depending BM, gender and school surroundings.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.304-314
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• 2017

Background: This study aimed to analyze effects of postpartum care services to women after birth, identify the factors affecting their use, and examine the extent of income-related inequality in the postpartum care services utilization and expenditures using Korean Health Panel data between 2010 and 2013. Methods: The panel data of the year 2010-2013 of the 247 women after birth were used. First, EuroQoL-5D was used to evaluate the effects of postpartum care service to women's quality of life. Second, multinominal logistic regression analysis was used to identify determinants of the use of the postpartum care services. Finally, concentration index and HIwv (horizontal equity) index were used to find that the concentration index for the inequality in the use of postpartum care services showed negative sign, which implied pro-rich. Results: The estimation results showed that utilization of the postpartum services has a positive effect on women after birth. Also age, area of residence, and number of household members turn out to be the factors of using postpartum services. And there are inequality in the use of postpartum care services whose HIwv index showed positive sign, which implied pro-rich. Conclusion: Therefore, the government's policy of the postpartum care service is necessary to be expanded and diversified considering the personal characteristics and equity of the women after birth.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.209-217
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• 2011

Purpose: In this study, eye-health inequity was investigated by analyzing the relationship between household incomes and eye-health of senior citizens. Further, this study suggested the preliminary data for establishment of public eye-health policy in order to improve low income senior citizens' life quality. Methods: The data from the 2009 Survey of Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination were analyzed in this study. The objectives of the KNHNE survey were over 65 year old group (1,668 people). Main factors of eye-health (visual acuity, cataract, pterygium, intraocular pressure, retinophathy, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinophathy, myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and anisometropia prevalence) were analyzed with t-test and chi square test. Results: Low income group revealed that refractive error rate and intraocular pressure were low, however, naked eye visual acuity and corrected visual acuity were high at 0.1 to less than 0.5. On the other hands, in the high income group, there was high prevalence of hyperopia. Cataract mainly occurred at low income group besides group which maximum corrected visual acuity was below 0.8 also highly showed cataract. Moreover, the prevalence of cataract showed that it related with smoking, drinking, occupation, and education level. Conclusions: Results revealed that there was inequity of eye-health which related with socioeconomic status of the elderly. Especially, the prevalence of cataract was correlated with life quality. Consequently, establishment of public eye-health policy seems to be required for eye-health inequity of low income senior citizens.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.561-569
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• 2022

A study was conducted to determine whether there is a difference in the incidence of kidney cancer according to income level and the difference in delayed diagnosis. To this end, the incidence of kidney cancer in Korea was analyzed by income level and by stage. From 2015 to 2017, a national kidney cancer cohort was established by linking the KCCR(Korea Central Cancer Registry), NHISS(National health insurance sharing service), and the HIRA(Health insirance review and assessment service) database to calculate the kidney cancer incidence by stage and income level. During the study period, the incidence of kidney cancer in Korea increased in all income deciles, but decreased only in the medical aid population. The incidence of kidney cancer in Korea was 7.35 per 100,000 people, and 83.54% of them were locoregional kidney cancer. In the top 20% of the income decile, there was a high incidence of 21.46 cases per 100,000 people, among which 18.37 cases were locoregional kidney cancer. On the other hand, even after adjusting for risk factors related to kidney cancer, it was confirmed that the lower the income level, the higher the risk of being diagnosed with kidney cancer with distant metastasis (lowest income 20% adj.OR 1.807, 95% CI 1.411-2.222). In the insured population, the risk ratio of being diagnosed with unknown stage was 1.926 (95% CI 1.317, 2.816). The higher the income level, the higher the frequency of early cancer diagnosis, but the lower the income level, the higher the risk of being diagnosed with metastatic kidney cancer or an unknown stage, so health inequality according to income level was observed.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.41-73
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• 2006

Using 1998~2003 data of the Korea Labor and Income Panel Survey, we analyze the scale, characteristics, and dynamic transition of working poors. The result shows that more than half of the poor families are working poors and that a considerable portion of economically active households is in poverty. However, compare to other kinds of poor families, working poors can easily escape from poverty once after they entered into poverty. When household head is elderly and less educated, the risk of working poor is relatively high. Also, self-employed households have high risk of working poor compare to households having wage worker(s). To ease the problem of working poor, creation of decent jobs and human resource development for vulnerable groups are important. Especially, the creation of decent jobs will do critical roles not only in solving employment issues but also in moderating income inequality among families. Policy development for self-employed in the brink of poverty and establishment of a solid social security system for working poors are also recommended.

• Economic Analysis
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.37-66
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• 2021

This paper examines the potential impacts of COVID-19 on poverty in ASEAN countries. The first estimate, adopted from Summer et al. (2020) and Nonvide (2020), configures three scenarios of contractions in per capita household income or consumption; the impact of each scenario on poverty is calculated using poverty lines at different thresholds. In the second estimate, poverty impacts in 2020 and 2021 were projected using regression models controlling for unobserved country effects, unbalanced data, and endogeneity. COVID-19 has been shown to have negative impacts on poverty reduction in the ASEAN Member States. To reduce poverty, concerted efforts are needed to implement policies for reducing income inequality and promoting economic growth. Such efforts will not only speed up the countries' return to pre-pandemic poverty levels but also contribute to further accelerating poverty reduction.