• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.1-44
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• 2018

This paper studies the macroeconomic effects of an enhancement in unemployment benefits in Korea. In particular, I quantify the welfare effect of two specific policy chances which have been mainly discussed among policymakers in recent years: increasing wage replacement rates by 10%p and extending maximum benefit durations by one month. To this end, I build and calibrate an overlapping generation model which reflects the heterogeneity of the unemployed and the specificity of the unemployment insurance (UI) system in Korea. The quantitative analysis conducted here shows that extending maximum benefit durations by one month improves social welfare, whereas increasing wage replacement rates by 10%p deteriorates social welfare. Extending maximum benefit durations is applied to potentially all the UI recipients, including unemployed workers whose wage before job loss is relatively low and whose marginal utility is relatively high. However, increasing wage replacement rates is applied to only a small number of UI recipients whose wage before job loss is relatively high, while the increase in the UI premium is passed onto all of the employed. This study suggests that given the current UI system and economic environment in Korea, it is more desirable to extend maximum benefit durations rather than to increase wage replacement rates in terms of social welfare.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.131-169
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• 2010

I develop a matching model in which risk-averse workers face borrowing constraints and make a labor force participation decision as well as a job search decision. A sharp distinction between unemployment and out of the labor force is made: those who look for work for a certain period but find no job are classified as the unemployed and those who do not look for work are classified as those out of the labor force. In the model, the job search decision consists of two steps. First, each individual who is not working obtains information about employment opportunities. Second, each individual who decides to search has to take costly actions to find a job. Since individuals differ with respect to asset holdings, they have different reservation job-finding probabilities at which an individual is indifferent between searching and not searching. Individuals, who have large asset holdings and thereby are less likely to participate in the labor market, have high reservation job-finding probability, and they are less likely to search if they have less quality of information. In other words, if individuals with large asset holdings search for job, they must have very high quality of information and face very high actual job-finding probability. On the other hand, individuals with small asset holdings have low reservation job-finding probability and they are likely to search for less quality of information. They face very low actual job-finding probability and seem to remain unemployed for a long time. Therefore, differences in the quality of information explain heterogeneous job search decisions among individuals as well as higher job finding probability for those who reenter the labor market than for those who remain in the labor force. The effect of the extended maximum duration of unemployment insurance benefits on the aggregate labor market and the labor market flows is investigated. The benchmark benefit duration is set to three months. As maximum benefit duration is extended up to six months, the employment-population ratio decreases while the unemployment rate increases because individuals who are eligible for benefits have strong incentives to remain unemployed and decide to search even if they obtain less quality of information, which leads to low job-finding probability and then high unemployment rate. Then, the vacancy-unemployment ratio decreases and, in turn, the job-finding probability for both the unemployed and those out of the labor force decrease. Finally, the outflow from nonparticipation decreases with benefit duration because the equilibrium job-finding probability decreases. As the job-finding probability decreases, those who are out of the labor force are less likely to search for the same quality of information. I also consider the matching model with two states of employment and unemployment. Compared to the results of the two-state model, the simulated effects of changes in benefit duration on the aggregate labor market and the labor market flows are quite large and significant.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.343-353
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• 2009

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of the water quality improvement by water discharge through dams and to provide a benefit estimation methodology, taking domestic situation into consideration, by the replacement cost approach analyzed with a sewage treatment plant instead of an alternative dam. To this end, facility that alternates a dam must have same functions of the discharged water from the dam and the two facilities must be able to be compared objectively. To estimate the benefit, estimation methodology of alternative facility's cost is established and criteria of cost.benefit analysis that are duration period and ratio of large scale repairing expense was presented. As a case study, the water quality improvement benefit of Song-Li-Won dam was evaluated, which is planned to be built on Nae-Sung stream in Nak-Dong River system. The results of applying this methodology to Song-Li-Won dam are 644,006 million won of the annual average discharge and 1,351,526 million won of maximum discharge. The usage of the framework in this study is expected for estimation of water quality improvement benefit in case water quality improvement project is performed.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.449-453
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• 2002

Intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) is well known for its hemodynamic benefit but still has its own complications. Proper use of IABP is the best way to obtain maximum benefit with low complication rate. Material and Method： Twenty one(men 10, female 11) patients were included in this study among the 100 consecutive adult cardiac surgery patients in our hospital. Eighteen(85.7%) were ischemic heart disease patients. They all received IABP therapy due to postcardiotomy cardiogenic shock according to the well-known indications. Their preoperative conditions, intraoperative factors including hemodynamics, postoperative conditions and IABP-related complications were analyzed. Result： Nineteen patients(90.5%) were successfully weaned from IABP. There were 2 patients of operative death and the mortality rate was 9.5%. Duration of IABP use was 40.7$\pm$24.3 hours. There were 2 cases(9.5 %) of IABP-related vascular complications that required surgical intervention. Conclusion： We concluded that IABP could be used effectively and safely for postcardiotomy cardiogenic shock patients with low complication rate.