• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.84-98
• /
• 2003

This research objective is to determine the optimal price break points for n­block tariff, because comparing non­linear pricing with uniform pricing on the basis of profit, n­block tariff outperforms two­part tariff, all unit discount price schedule, and uniform pricing. Although the merits of non­linear pricing are well documented, the attempt to practice the non-linear pricing in medical service sector has been relatively rare. The determination of the parameters under n­block tariff is the interesting decision making agenda for marketers. Under n­block tariff, the marketers should decide the optimal price break points and the optimal marginal price for each price zone. The results can be summarized as follows: The researchers found that mixture model can be the feasible methodology for determining the optimal number of n­block tariff and identifying the optimal segmentation criteria. We demonstrate the feasibility and the superiority of the mixture model by applying it to the database of medical examination. The results appear that the number of patients per month can be the optimal segmentation variable. And 6­block tariff is the optimal price break for this medical service.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.3-21
• /
• 1992

By localizing the production of core parts and intermediate goods previously imported from Japan, Korean firms have been striving to increase their market share and profit in the final goods market in which Japanese firms are dominating. Korean producers' efforts, however, have often been thwarted by Japanese suppliers' "strategic" behavior. This competitive strategy involves Japanese exporters supplying parts and intermediate goods at very high prices until Korean firms must locally develop them, and then setting the prices far below the previous level so that the profitability of localization is dramatically reduced, or even means a loss for the Korean manufacturer. This paper intends to explain the strategic behavior of Japanese firms through the concepts of strategic interactions and joint economies. Strategic interactions can be aggressive or accommodating depending on whether competitors are dealing with strategic substitutes or complements. Joint economies exist in multi-stage competition when competition in the previous state favorably influences "profits" of the ensuing stage. Competiton between Korean and Japanese firms (a two-stage game involving production and technology rivalries) can be characterized by joint economies and strategic substitutes: joint economies since technological improvement results in more profits in the production stage; and strategic substitutes since an increase in marginal profits of one firm brings about a decrease in marginal profits of the other in a duopolitic production stage. This implies that the flood of "low price" Japense substitutes is an almost "natural" phenomenon in the context of the duopolistic market described in this paper. In the technology competition stage, on the other hand, technology development and technology transfer can be either strategic complements or substitutes. This implies that, in typical comparative static analyses, the effect of changes in exogenous variables cannot be expected a priori. Thus it becomes very difficult to determine the desirability of applying various policy measures such as countervailing duties, R&D subsidies, and creating demand for localized products. For these reasons, it is indeed likely that the measures suggested as means of circumventing the strategic behavior of Japanese firms (and enhancing technological development of Korean firms) may not work.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
• /
• v.45 no.3
• /
• pp.190-195
• /
• 2018

Sweetpotato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam] represents an attractive starch crop that can be used to facilitate solving global food and environmental problems in the $21^{st}$ century. It can be used as industrial bioreactors to produce various high value-added materials, including bio-ethanol, functional feed, antioxidants, as well as food resources. The non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) announced sweetpotato as one of the ten 'super foods' for better health, since it contains high levels of low molecular weight antioxidants such as vitamin-C, vitamin-E and carotenoids, as well as dietary fiber and potassium. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) also reported that sweetpotato is the best bioenergy crop among starch crops on marginal lands, that does not affect food security. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that world population in 2050 will be 9.7 billion, and require approximately 1.7 times more food than today. In this respect, sweetpotato will be a solution to solving problems such as food, energy, health, and environment facing the globe in the $21^{st}$ century. In this paper, the current status of resources, and cultivation of sweetpotato in the world was first described. Development of a new northern route of the sweetpotato and its prior tasks of large scale cultivation of sweetpotato, were also described in terms of global food security, and production of high-value added biomaterials.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
• /
• v.42 no.4
• /
• pp.281-295
• /
• 2009

This study estimates the value of irrigation water in Korea using an economic programming model that is constructed with all the resource endowment constraints, technology restrictions and policy variables. The variability and uncertainty of water resource endowment are incorporated into the model through the chance-constrained technique. Solving the profit maximization problems with gradually reduced water endowments, we derive a series of shadow values of irrigation water. It has been found that uncertainty in water supply raises the damage from water loss, and the marginal damage increases in water loss.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
• /
• v.10 no.6
• /
• pp.742-750
• /
• 2007

This paper presents a mathematical model for a double-fleet operation in Korean high speed rail (HSR). KORAIL has a plan to launch new HSR units in 2010, which are composed of 10 railcars. The double-fleet operation assigns a single-unit or two-unit fleet to a segment, accommodating demand fluctuation. The proposed model assumes stochastic demand and uses chance-constrained constraints to assure a preset service level. It can be used in the tactical planning stage of the rail management as it includes several real-world conditions, such as the capacities of the infra-structures and operational procedures. In the solution approach, the expected revenue in the objective function is linearized by using expected marginal revenue, and the chance-constrained constraints are linearized by assuming that demands are normally distributed. Subsequently, the model can be solved by a mixed-integer linear programming solver fur small size problems. The test results of the model applied to Friday morning train schedules for one month sample data from KTX operation in 2004 shows that the proposed model could be utilized to determine the effectiveness of double-fleet operation, which could significantly increase the expected profit and seat utilization rates when properly maneuvered.

• Journal of Environmental Policy
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.1-40
• /
• 2008

In this paper, I examine the welfare effects of various revenue-neutral tax reforms in the case of two vertically-related oligopolies(downstream and upstream), where the upstream industry is polluting. I show analytically when and how government can improve welfare by initiating various tax reforms, regardless of either the feasibility of a lump sum transfer or the availability of a tax on pollution. The profit wedge that is the difference between the unit price and the unit cost and the marginal environmental damages(MED) becomes important to decidethe direction of a tax reform and is crucial to determine the direction of welfare-improving tax-subsidy schemes. I also show that a tax on pollution(Pigouvian tax) is superior to a tax on intermediate good even in the case of vertically-related oligopolies, because the former always brings in positive welfare effect from the upstream firms' input substitutability, which a tax on intermediate good cannot provide. Some policy implications for 'reducing environmentally-harmful subsidies' are also discussed.

• Plant Journal
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.50-57
• /
• 2013

This study investigates the risks that can occur during the development stage of IPP project in developing countries. In case that ECA and MLA cannot participate due to poor credit rating of the country, the diversification of power purchaser in marginal states can be a great help to reduce both market risk and country risk at the same time. In case of thermal power plants and combined cycle power plants, the effect of performance degradation as time passed will be considered and expected profit of sponsors should be maintained. Recently, developing countries are expanding IPP projects to reduce the financing cost and Korean power companies are positively participating in IPP projects. Accordingly, the loss of Korean companies should be minimized by risk management through the risk mitigation methods of this study.

• Journal of Ginseng Culture
• /
• v.1
• /
• pp.67-77
• /
• 2019

This study tried to evaluate the official Korea Red Ginseng(Hongsam) trade in 19th century. The Hongsam trade activities of the 19th century also show that the collected amount of Posam taxes (Hongsam taxes) alone outweigh the amount of cost spent during the same time period to launch tributary actions. It is quite obvious that the Chosun dynasty, supported by the developed techniques of ginseng cultivation and preservation methods, managed to stop the silver leaks while also stimulating the domestic commerce, handicraft business and mining operations, by exporting Hongsam to China and importing raw material and other finished products in return. The Chosun government also managed to secure considerable amount of marginal profit which at times mounted to almost 2 hundred thousand Nyangs of silver during the latter half of the 19th century thanks to this Hongsam trade activities, and accumulated the hoof-shaped pieces of silver ingot at the office of Ministry of Taxation. Even under the mostly undesirable political environment featuring unjustified deeds of the powerful houses, the commercial activities were being strongly maintained, and the transactions conducted by merchants of the Gaeseong, Euiju areas and the capital city were prospering.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.493-502
• /
• 2006

The slaughter weight (wt) is a most important economic factor in swine roduction. The present study was undertaken to determine if it is feasible to increase the slaughter wt of finishing pigs to 130kg without significantly affecting the growth efficiency and carcass quality. One hundred and sixty gilts and 160 barrows born from lean-type Yorkshire×Landrace (YL)-dam and Duroc (D)-sire lines, which are most widely used for terminal breeding for pork production in Gyeongsangnam-do, were randomly allocated into 16 pens under a 2 (sex)×2 (slaughter wt; 110 vs. 130kg) factorial arrangement of treatments. The animals were fed ad libitum a diet containing 3,200kcal DE/kg and 15.5% crude protein. After slaughter at the predetermined wt, yields of trimmed primal cuts and physicochemical characteristics of the longissimus dorsi muscle (LD) were measured or analyzed. Average daily gain was greater (P<0.01) in barrows than in gilts (0.86 vs. 0.79kg), but it was not different between the 110- and 130-kg slaughter wt groups (P>0.05). Backfat thickness was greater in the 130- vs. 110-kg group in both sexes (gilts: 21.6 vs. 17.6 mm, barrows: 25.1 vs. 20.8 mm). The yield percentage of belly was greater in barrows than in gilts (21.2 vs. 20.5%) and also in the 130-kg vs. 110-kg group (21.4 vs. 20.2%). Major physicochemical characteristics of LD including the color, percentage of 48-h drip loss, 24-h pH and percentages of crude protein and fat were not influenced by slaughter wt. Marginal profit of the 130-kg vs. 110-kg market pig was approximately 󰠏20,000 won/head, which resulted primarily from the heavy carcass weight of the former exceeding the upper limit of the A- or B-grade. However, if it had not been for the carcass weight limit of the current grading system, a 130-kg market pig would have had a potential marginal profit greater than 20,000 won. Results suggest that slaughter wt of lean-line finishing pigs can be increased to 130kg without significantly compromising the growth efficiency and carcass quality and accordingly, the upper weight limit of the ‘good-grade’ carcass needs to be increased or abolished to accommodate the larger market pigs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
• /
• 1998.10a
• /
• pp.266-287
• /
• 1998

Environmental conditions and expected profit are the major criteria to select crops to be cultivated in any region. Traditionally, miscellaneous crops have been cultivated as alternative crop in case of unfavorable climate or supplementary crop in marginal lands. Since the successful breeding of high yielding varieties of staple crops and development of cultural techniques in 1970s in Korea, production of miscellaneous crops decreased markedly due to the rapid commercialization of agriculture and increased productions of horticultural crops, although yields have been doubled during the last $2\~3$ decades. On the other hand, animal husbandry has been developing remarkably parallel with national economic development and the increased consumption of animal products. As a result, imports of feed grains such as corn have increased rapidly, while roughage production became lower than demand. Among miscellaneous crops, corn production increased markedly through the development of hybrids and due to its importance as silage crops. Acreage of corn production including grains, fresh corns and feeding is about 120,000 ha, while acreage of buckwheat is about 5,000 ha and those of other miscellaneous crops decreased to a level of about 1,000 ha. Although miscellaneous crops have low yield potential and are unprofitable due to low price and imports of cheap foreign products, they should be kept to cultivate. Miscellaneous crops are important components that maintain diversity among upland crops as well as alternative crops in case of unfavorable climate. The low yield potential of miscellaneous crops might be due to lack of efforts to breed high yielding varieties and to develope cultural techniques. Continuous investment in research, exploitation of new utilization for miscellaneous crops as sustainable crop, honey crop and sightseeing crop, and development of healthy and special foods will promote their cultivation. Animal feeding in Korea depends mainly on formula feeds. As the number of animals increases to meet demand of animal products, there is no alternative way but to import grains to feed them. But roughage production, which is necessary for normal growth of ruminant animals, should be increased. However, lack of arable land and pasture land limits the production of good roughages. It is estimated that number of course for meat and milk production will be $2.5{\~}2.6$ million and total of $6.2{\~}7.5$ million tons of roughages should be produced. This implies that more than 1 million tons of roughage are needed, although pasture land, upland for forage crops, forage crops after rice cultivation and rice straw are utilized. Therefore, new reclamation of pasture land, increased roughage production in cultivating land, increased cultivation of forage crops after rice, more utilization of rice straw and active exploration of indigenous plant species as roughage resources should be promoted