• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.51-58
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• 2024

Background: The rise in national health care costs has emerged as a global problem given the ever-aging population and rapid development of medical technology. The utilization of interventional pain management has, similarly, shown a continued rise worldwide. This study evaluates the differences in the medical costs in the field of interventional pain treatment (IPT) between two countries: Korea and Japan. Methods: Korean medical insurance costs for 2019 related to pain management focused on IPT were compared to those of Japan. Purchasing power parity (PPP) was used to adjust the exchange rate differences and to compare prices in consideration of the respective societies' economic power. Results: The cost of trigger point injections in Japan was 1.06 times higher than that of Korea, whereas the perineural and intraarticular injection prices were lower in Japan. The cost of epidural blocks was higher in Japan compared to Korea in both cervical/thoracic and lumbar regions. As for blocks of peripheral branches of spinal nerves, the cost of scapular nerve blocks in Japan was lower than that in Korea, given a PPP ratio 0.09. For nerve blocks in which fluoroscopy guidance is mandatory, the costs of epidurography in Japan were greater than those in Korea, given a PPP ratio 1.04. Conclusions: This is the first comparative study focusing on the medical costs related to IPT between Korea and Japan, which reveals that the costs differed along various categories. Further comparisons reflecting more diverse countries and socio-economic aspects will be required.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.82-93
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• 2021

Background: This study used bibliometric analysis of articles published about the topic of regional anesthesia from 1980-2019 with the aim of determining which countries, organizations, and authors were effective, engaged in international cooperation, and had the most cited articles and journals. Methods: All articles published from 1980-2019 included in the Web of Science database and found using the keywords regional anesthesia/anaesthesia, spinal anesthesia/anaesthesia, epidural anesthesia/anaesthesia, neuraxial anesthesia/anaesthesia, combined spinal-epidural, and peripheral nerve block in the title section had bibliometric analysis performed. Correlations between the number of publications from a country with gross domestic product (GDP), gross domestic product (at purchasing power parity) per capita (GDP PPP), and human development index (HDI) values were investigated with the Spearman correlation coefficient. The number of articles that will be published in the future was estimated with linear regression analysis. Results: Literature screening found 11,156 publications. Of these publications, 6,452 were articles. The top 4 countries producing articles were United States of America (n = 1,583), Germany (585), United Kingdom (510), and Turkey (386). There was a significant positive correlation found between the GDP, GDP PPP, and HDI markers for global countries with publication productivity (r = 0.644, P < 0.001; r = 0.623, P < 0.001, r = 0.542, P < 0.001). The most productive organizations were Harvard University and the University of Toronto. Conclusions: This comprehensive study presenting a holistic summary and evaluation of 6,452 articles about this topic may direct anesthesiologists, doctors, academics, and students interested in this topic.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.125-151
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• 1990

This paper reviews the economic liberalization experiences of the Southern Cone countries and draws some lessons from their experiences. The Southern Cone countries-Chile, Argentina and Uruguay-followed the different sequences in liberalization. Chile implemented the fiscal reform and the following comprehensive trade reform in the beginning of liberalization, but capital controls were maintained until 1979. Argentina and Uruguay placed more emphasis on the financial reform with the goods market reformed afterwards, but the fiscal sector was never reformed in Argentina. Since the serious inflation plagued the Southern Cone countries, they combined the economic liberalization scheme with the economic stabilization programmes which are based on the monetarist model. Although economic situations in the Southern Cone countries are quite different from those of Korea, we can learn many lessons from their experiences. First, the monetary and fiscal policies should consist of strict financial discipline to bring in the stable domestic inflation. Without the domestic stabilization, the financial liberalization could disturb the domestic economy as the capital inflows in particular generate a real exchange rate appreciation. Second, the monetary approach which is based on the full purchasing power parity and perfect capital mobility make stabilization as simple as a matter of the appropriate exchange rate policy and the proper rate of domestic credit creation. The unsuccessful experiences with monetarist stabilization in the Southern Cone countries suggest that the monetarist model cannot make real exchange rate and real interest rate stable with the trade and financial reform. Third, both the theory and practice have not yet provided a precise solution on the optimal sequencing and speed of the goods and financial market. Nonetheless, it seems desirable to keep the real exchange rate and the real interest rate stable by gradually opening up the current account and then the capital account.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.209-255
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• 1991

This paper develops a simple model to explain the reasons why foreign acquirers pay significantly higher premiums for U.S. target firms than do U.S. buyers. We also provide empirical work on the valuation effect of foreign takeovers and the determinants of the wealth gains of U.S. target shareholders involved in foreign takeovers. The results indicate that target wealth gains are significantly higher in foreign takeovers than in domestic takeovers, after controlling for the wealth effects of payment method, acquisition type, tax status, size and time period of bids. This confirms the valuation effect of foreign takeovers. Furthermore, the results of cross-sectional regression analysis show that the variation in U.S. target wealth gains is explained by extra tax benefits stemming from double tax deductions for acquisition-related interest expenses incurred by foreign acquirers. These findings imply that differential taxation across tax jurisdictions is the main source of the valuation effect of foreign takeovers. In addition, we find that there exists a valuation effect of the nationality of the foreign acquirers. Japanese companies pay significantly higher premiums than do non-Japanese acquirers. The finding also indicates that competition among bidders increases the abnormal returns to U.S. target shareholders in foreign takeovers.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.175-185
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• 2023

Upon analyzing labor productivity in the construction industry across OECD countries, it was found that in 2019, labor productivity per employee in the South Korean construction industry was lower than that of major developed countries when adjusted for purchasing power parity(PPP). Specifically, when benchmarked against other countries at a base of 100, South Korea scored 76.9 in the United States, 88.4 in Japan, and 85.1 in the OECD average. Notably, South Korea ranked 25th in labor productivity per employee in the construction industry among 35 OECD countries in 2019, indicating a low standing. A comparative analysis of the construction market size and labor productivity in the construction industry across OECD countries revealed that larger construction markets did not necessarily correlate with higher labor productivity. To enhance labor productivity in the construction industry, this study proposed the active implementation of smart construction technology at construction sites and the promotion of on-site assembly work using off-site construction(OSC) technology, rather than traditional on-site labor. Moreover, it was recommended that the development of modular construction methods and technologies be expanded. In the future, if off-site production methods and modules are further developed through advanced robotics and factory automation, labor productivity is anticipated to increase due to the restructuring of production methods, such as manufacturing.