• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.77-86
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• 2018

This study was carried out by using the concentration index calculation method from 1996 to 2016 by using the household trend survey data to confirm the difference of income transfer income and inequality in public transfer income. The main results are as follows. First, the public transfer income concentration index in 1996 was concentrated on the high income group with +0.2774, but since 2009, the concentration index has been negative (-), which has concentrated on the low income group. However, the effect of redistribution of income was small. Second, the average public transfer income of low - income households increased significantly while the number of high income earners decreased. It is gradually improving that public transfer income did not play a role in the improvement of income inequality. Third, public transfer income has been continuously increasing in all income classes, and the rate of increase is low in the low income class and slow in the high income class, so the public transfer income of the low income class is higher than that of the high income class. In sum, the inequality of public transfer income by income class in Korea is gradually improving, but it is not considered to be a level that can improve the inequality between income groups.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.379-388
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• 2022

Objectives: Throughout history, societies have been impacted by inequality. Many studies have been conducted on the topic more broadly, but only a few have investigated inequalities in out-of-pocket health payments (OHP). This study measures OHP inequality trends among the Iranian households. Methods: This study used data from the Iranian Statistics Center on Iranian household income and expenditures. The analysis included a total of 995 300 households during the 36 years from 1984 to 2019. The Gini coefficient, Atkinson index, and Theil index were calculated for Iranian OHP. Results: Average Iranian household OHP increased from 33 US dollar (USD) in 1984 to 47 USD in 2019. During this 36-year span, the average±standard deviation Gini coefficient for OHP was 0.73±0.04, and the Atkinson and Theil indexes were 0.68±0.05 and 1.14±0.29, respectively. The Gini coefficients for the subcategories of OHP of outpatient diagnostic services, medical assistant accessories, hospital inpatient services, and addiction cessation were 0.70, 0.61, 0.84, and 0.64, respectively. Conclusions: In this study, we scrutinized trends of inequality in the OHP of Iranian households. Inequality in OHP decreased slightly over the past four decades. An analysis of trends among different subgroups revealed that affluent households, such as households with insurance coverage and households in higher income deciles, experienced higher inequality. Therefore, lower inequality in health care expenditures may be related to restricted access to health care services in Iran.

• Journal of Korean society of Dental Hygiene
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.125-132
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• 2023

Objectives: This study used the 2018 Korea Health Panel Survey data to analyze factors affecting employment status and income relating to unmet dental and medical care needs. Additionally it investigated measures to reduce oral health inequality among various socioeconomic classes. Methods: Descriptive statistics for the subjects' unmet dental and medical care needs were calculated through chi-square test analysis, and multivariate logistic regression analysis was applied to identify factors affecting the unmet dental and medical care needs. The odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were calculated for each level. These data were analyzed using STATA 17.0 SE (64-bit) version, and the statistical significance level was set to p<0.05. Results: As a result of unmet dental and medical care needs according to general characteristics, the lower the education level (p<0.001), the higher the age (p<0.001) and the lower the household equalization income (p<0.024) and the smoker status (p<0.003) were, respectively. Factors that have a statistically significant impact on unmet dental and medical care needs were divorce, separation and bereavement (p<0.001) in individuals than in married persons, and being smokers than non-smokers (p<0.009). The frequency of unmet dental and medical care needs were found to be lower in the cases of a high school graduate than an elementary school graduate (p<0.018), and of higher household equalization income (p<0.001) than the lowest household equalization income, respectively. Conclusions: It was found that various factors such as age, education level, household equalization income, employment status, type of working hours type, and smoking status affect unmet dental and medical care needs.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.502-516
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• 2014

This study has decomposed the Gini coefficient using Korean Labor & Income Panel Study data and empirically analyzed the impact of demographic characteristics and source-specific income of householder on the household income gap using panel analysis. The scope of areas were divided into 'nationwide,' 'metropolitan areas,' and 'non-metropolitan areas,' and the period before and after the global financial crisis was examined. The analysis findings are as follows. First, when the entire period was examined by income source using Gini decomposition with division of areas into 'nationwide,' 'metropolitan areas,' and 'non-metropolitan areas', the following results were revealed. The absolute and relative contribution level of property income to the gross income was the largest in the category of 'nationwide' and 'metropolitan areas,' while the contribution level of earned income was the largest in the category of 'non-metropolitan areas'. In addition, property income worsened the household income gap the most in the category of 'nationwide' and 'metropolitan areas.' Second, property income worsened the household income gap less after the financial crisis than before the crisis. It is probably because the price of real estate skyrocketed before the global financial crisis, worsening the household income gap, whereas the price drop after the crisis temporarily alleviated the gap. Third, a correlation analysis revealed that households with older householders whose education is high school graduation or below had relatively low gross income, and households with higher source-specific income, especially earned income, had relatively high gross income. Fourth, when the household income determinants were compared through panel analysis with division of areas into 'nationwide,' 'metropolitan areas,' and 'non-metropolitan areas,' the following results were obtained. While the impact of earned income, financial income, and other incomes was greater in non-metropolitan areas than in metropolitan areas, the impact of property income was greater in metropolitan areas than in non-metropolitan areas. To reduce the income gap, the government should impose higher taxes on the high-income class and provide tax benefits to the low-income class, with efforts to create a wide variety of jobs. In addition, since income inequality gets worse as the proportion of incomes generated through asset holdings becomes higher, the government should focus on stabilizing property prices while paying attention to the regional differentiation when carrying out related policies.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.25-36
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to estimate income-related health inequalities among adolescent population across regions in Korea. Methods: Data of 8,456 adolescents from 1998, 2001, 2005, 2007 Korean Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were used for the analysis. True health status was proxied by self-rated health and overweight status. Per capita income was computed from household monthly average income adjusted by consumer price with base year 2005. Adolescent health inequalities were estimated by Concentration Index (CI) across income and space. Results: Ill health score was related with age (p<0.0001), gender (p=0.0155) and income (p<0.0001). Negative relationship between income and ill-health indicated that higher income group tended to enjoy better health and less overweight. These evidences suggested ill health were accumulated on the economically disadvantaged adolescents. The size of health inequalities (ill-health score) were estimated as CI=-0.057 and CI=-0.030 across income groups and regions, respectively. Comparable measures of within region health disparities were also observed. Conclusion: Since health disparity among adolescent population was small compared to adult population, lessening adolescent health inequality could be a helpful way of mitigating health disparities in later stage. Considering life stage of adolescents, school system and local communities could play important roles toward adolescent health distribution. Although health disparity between regions existed, health disparity within a region should not be neglected.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.305-336
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• 2022

This study applied the macro-micro simulation model (i.e., what-if analysis) to investigate the impact of transport related to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on poverty and income inequality in Laos. We selected Laos as a case study of a developing country. We used the standard GTAP model with the GTAP database (version 10) for the macrosimulation, whereas we used the household model with the latest Lao household data from 2019 for the microsimulation. Our findings revealed that the output of the Lao economy was anticipated to increase by up to 0.3%, while the poverty rate was anticipated to decline from 17.0% to 15.7%. However, there would be winners and losers in industries and groups of households in different areas. In particular, rich households with a comparative socioeconomic advantage, such as in education, engagement in nonfarm business, and infrastructure access, would mostly gain benefits; consequently, this would lead to higher inequality in Laos. Therefore, the inequality index (i.e., the Gini coefficient) would increase from 41.2 to 60.1. After a simulation of BRI transport, we also found that some nonpoor households, which are mainly associated with farm activities and lower educational levels, would fall into poverty.

• The Journal of Industrial Distribution & Business
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.87-95
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• 2017

Purpose - The structural changes of Korean agriculture are complex due to heterogeneous production processes and farms' features. This study analyzed trends of dualism in Korean agriculture over the period 2000-15 based on farm-level data to clarify the specific trends of dualism in terms of farm income, farm-size, and farm operators' age. From the results of this study, we would be able to understand the features of structural changes in Korean agriculture more profoundly. Research design, data, and methodology - We incorporated farm-level data in South Korea: Agricultural census and Farm household economy survey. As measures of inequality, we used size-weighted quantiles, and normalized Gini coefficients as well as mean and conventional quantiles. The size-weighted quantiles are more robust to changes in the number of small farms, but they are more sensitive to changes in the distribution of farm-size. Thus, they would be more useful to identify trends of dualism of Korean agriculture. Results - The results show that the farmland distribution of crop farms became more skewed and dispersed. However, the herd distribution of livestock farms became more concentrated. To be specific, their mean and 1st quantile increases more rapidly than their size-weighted 2nd quantile and size-weighted 3rd quantile. Gini coefficients of livestock farms regarding their herd distribution decreased by 0.1 on average. In the case of income distribution, the results indicate that the polarization regarding farm household/agricultural/non-agricultural income became more severe. However, we also found that the distribution of transfer income became concentrated continuously. The results imply that transfer income including subsidies would decrease farm income polarization. Lastly, during the study periods, Korean farms were aging over time, and age distribution of them more concentrated. Conclusions - The structure of Korean agriculture has been changing, even though the absolute size of it decreased over time. Land (herd) distribution became more dispersed (concentrated). Inequality regarding agricultural income became more severe, and it made farm household income more polarized even though transfer income would decrease income gaps among farms. Lastly, farms continue to age regardless of farm types and this might affect the structural changes in Korean agriculture in the future.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.57-78
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• 2004

The economic crisis in $1997{\sim}1998$ caused massive unemployment and unprecedentedly increased the number of the poor in Korea. As many unemployed families fell into poverty, the poverty rate skyrocketed to higher than 10 percent. Not later than 2000, unemployment late got back to normal and real average income among urban households approached to the income level prior to the economic crisis. Although the economic crisis has been passed through, poverty was not decreased to the low level prior to the crisis by 2000. Why does it remain high? This study attempts to provide an answer to this question by analysing the poverty trend over the 1990s. Data come from the National Survey of Household Income and Expenditures 1991, 1996, and 20001. Results show that poverty was rapidly reduced in the first half period of the 1990s. This reduction in poverty is largely explained by steady and rapid economic growth. Modest improvement in income inequality also contributed. In contrast, the poverty rate considerably increased in the latter half of the 1990s. Average income was not fully recovered to its prior level, which reflected the economic crisis and the subsequent economic stagnation. Worsened income inequality led to higher poverty rate too. In addition, demographic changes increased the share of economically vulnerable types of families, such as families headed by single parents and the elderly. The most significant factor in explaining the higher poverty rate was extended income differential among non-elderly adults, while the next was the increased number of the elderly families. Yet, findings a little differ depending on which concepts of poverty to adopt. In the analyses based on the concept of absolute poverty, economic growth the most significantly affected the poverty trends in the 1999s. Changes in income inequality played the most important role in explaining the trend in relative poverty. Adopting the concepts of quasi-absolute poverty, which is preferred in this study, results show that rapid economic growth significantly reduced poverty in the first half of the 1990s and both worsened income inequality and stagnated economic growth increased poverty in the latter 1990s.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.34-41
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• 2012

The aim of this paper is to depict the social problems common to South Korea and Japan by comparing their consumption behaviors. For that purpose, we utilize the Survey of Household Economy of both countries and attempt to determine the similarities and differences between the two countries. Our empirical analysis revealed the following. First, although both countries are aging, the first quartile (the poorest in under the definition in this paper) in South Korea has aged more rapidly than in to Japan. As the wages in these two countries formerly increased with age, this substantial divergence in the age composition in the poorest quartile is a remarkable change and suggests that income inequality has been more widely spreading out in South Korea than in Japan. Furthermore, the education expenditure ratio in South Korea is statistically significant for higher income level, while this is not the case in Japan. If the opportunity for better education is dominated by wealthier households, the prompt implementation of a policy to break this vicious circle is necessary in South Korea.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.27-44
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• 1994

Despite the rapid economic growth since the 1960s the economic inequality has been exacerbated in Korea. This study analyzed the variables influencing the level of objective deprivation. For empirical analysis this study used the data on 602 households in the city of Inchon collected by the researcher through interviews. The major method used in this study was the four stepwise multiple regression. The findings were as follows : the residential class was the most critical variable in determining the level of deprivation. For the entire sample assets had stronger effect on the deprivation than nonasset income but two variables had different effects depending on residential class. For the poor residential class two variables had the effect These results imply that the household consumption in Korea shows remarkable difference according to residential class and that the inequality of wealth compared to that of nonasset income had much more serious effects.