• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.11-18
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• 2024

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to empirically evaluate the unintended welfare losses induced by paid sick leave, examine the severity of the unintended moral hazard loss caused by paid sick leave, and evaluate how much moral hazard cost society can accept to obtain paid sick leave benefits. Research Design, Data and Methodology: We examine the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data collected in 2013 and 2014 by employing a panel probit analysis to control for individual heterogeneity. Results: The estimation result shows that the probability of absence due to paid sick leave increases from 4.91% to 7.84%. Among them, excluding the probability of increasing absence from 1.29% to 2.69% due to the actual disease, the probability of absence due to the moral hazard was estimated to be 2.41% to 6.49% in the proposed models. Based on the result, if we evaluate the increase in absence caused by moral hazard as a social cost, the estimated cost is approximately $174 to $297 per worker per year. Conclusion: Considering these expected costs, our society can obtain the access benefit from paid sick leave if we are willing to accept the moral hazard cost.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.69-81
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• 2024

Purpose: Small airports are social and economic enablers and facilitate businesses and individuals. They contribute significantly to the distribution and logistics of the local produce - be it goods or services, thereby impacting the economy but have limited access to funds and poor management restricts their development. Despite the importance, small airports in small cities struggle financially as they are unable to earn profits and have higher operating costs. In other words, this is a paradoxical situation for small airports wherein, despite losses, the regional or national public authorities still finance such airports under socio-economic obligations. Therefore, this study aims to identify the critical success factors for improving small airports' performance and propose a business model. Research design, data and methodology: Using the qualitative research, interviews with 16 stakeholders from Guwahati, Tirupati, Bhubaneswar and Dehradun airports in india were examined. Results: The analysis reveals strategic planning and low cost, non-passenger services, and development of airport economic region as the main factors contributing towards small airports' success. Additionally, providing logistics to the local businesses and creating niche markets are suggested. Conclusions: Small airports, based on their services and the means of targeting customers, could select the relevant approach to improve their overall performance and improve profitability.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.651-657
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• 2024

This study comparatively analyzed the impact of childcare workforce cost on fertility rates across different countries. In the cases of Nordic countries, comprehensive childcare support policies and subsidies for childcare workforce costs were found to have a positive impact on fertility rates. In contrast, high childcare burden and economic pressures were identified as major factors contributing to declining fertility rates in East Asian countries. In developing countries, the effectiveness of childcare support policies varied depending on the socioeconomic context. This study suggests that the impact of childcare workforce cost on fertility rates manifests in diverse patterns across countries, and effective childcare support policies require tailored approaches that consider each country's specific circumstances. In the future, increased social investment in childcare and the spread of a culture that respects the value of care are necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Rural Architecture
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 2024

In France, the popularization of social rental housing development for regional balanced growth has encountered difficulties due to the increasing costs of housing development in the regions. As a new solution, since 2010, efforts have been made to promote participatory housing in the regions. As of 2023, Strasbourg has 284 households participating in the participatory housing projects. The Strasbourg area has many abandoned houses, and the land is owned by local governments. The local authorities are providing such lands for participatory housing and have established the "Eco-quartier" support association to efficiently support the project and assist in resident-led participatory housing development. This study analyzes the development characteristics of 26 completed participatory housing projects in the Strasbourg area and examines the initial development stages of the representative case, the "Ecologis" project. The success factors of the "Ecologis" project were the active administrative support of the local government, promotion for member recruitment, and the role of "Eco-quartier" in providing expert support teams. In the initial development stage, it identifies the distinctions from a similar concept in Korea, "community housing," and presents implications for the revitalization of participatory housing.

• Journal of Wind Energy
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.5-13
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• 2023

The commercialization has been of great importance to the clean energy research sector for investing the wind farm development, but it would be difficult to reach a social consensus on the need to expand the economic feasibility of renewable energy due to the lack of reliable and continuous information on levelized cost of Energy (LCOE). Regarding this fact, this paper presents the evaluation of LCOE, focusing on Ulsan offshore region targeting to build the first floating offshore wind farm. Energy production is estimated by the meteorology data combined with the Leanwind Project power curve of an exemplar wind turbine. This work aims to analyze the costs of the Capex depending on site-specific variables. The cost of final LCOE was estimated by using Monte-Carlo method, and it became an average range 297,090 KRW/MWh, a minimum of 251,080 KRW/MWh, and a maximum of 341,910 KRW/MWh. In the year 2021, the SMP (system marginal price) and 4.5 REC (renewable energy certificate) can be paid if 1 MWh of electricity is generated by renewable energy. Considering current SMP and REC price, the floating platform industry, which can earn around 502,000 KRW/MWh, can be finally estimated highly competitive in the Korean market.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.5-30
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• 2005

Globalization has conflicting effects on pharmaceutical policies. A change into a 'populist competitive nation' due to globalization strengthens policies to reduce drug manufacturing costs while the WTO's TRIPS Agreement that is affected by multinational pharmaceutical companies increases drug manufacturing costs by bolstering the patent rights on new drugs. Currently, the independency of populist nations' policies to reduce drug manufacturing cost is being compromised because multinational organizations(such as the European Union) which represents the interests of the multinational pharmaceutical companies put restrictions on the pharmaceutical policies of populist nations for purposes of promoting the industrial goals of the multinational companies. Korea is no exception. Up until the late 1990s, the main feature of the pharmaceutical policies in Korea was keeping the drug price at the cost level based on a growth-driven ideology, and this was Korea's unique policy tools as a developing nation. However, the increase in the power of multinational pharmaceutical companies currently infringes on the independency of Korea's pharmaceutical policies. Expensive imported drugs were originally covered by the national health insurance plan, but starting from 1999 such drugs began to be covered by the plan. After separation of medical and pharmaceutical services, the use of expensive drugs was increased, and the Korean government planned to introduce the reference price policy in order to contain the cost of the national health insurance plan. However, due to pressures from the U.S. government as well as multinational pharmaceutical companies, implementation of the policy has been postponed. In addition, due to a pressure from the U.S. government, a working group was created which would affect the health care policy of the Korean government. Discussions so far on globalization was about whether the change into populist competitive nations due to globalization resulted in the reduction of welfare spending. However, this study shows not only the reduction of health care cost through policies to reduce drug manufacturing costs but increase in welfare spending by raising the strengths of multinational pharmaceutical companies that are for-profit providers of welfare service. While focusing on the contradictory effects of globalization on pharmaceutical policies of a nation, this study looked at how these conflicting effects end up promoting the interests of multinational pharmaceutical companies by examining the Korean case.

• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.239-248
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• 2010

Objective: Despite the increasing number of female participation in employment, blue-collar women have been exposed to higher health risk. This study is to describe the prevalence of chronic diseases, health behaviors, and medical service utilization of female blue-collar workers. Methods: Data were derived from the 2001 Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey (KNHANES). The sample was made up of 37,108 male and female participants aged 20 or over selected nation-wide by probability sampling from Korea. This study applied the logistic regression for nominal variables such as disease prevalence and health behaviors and with the regression for continuos variables such as the length and costs of medical services. Results: In general, women's prevalence of chronic illness and uncured rate were significantly higher than male, and especially female blue-collar workers had the highest prevalence, uncured rate, unhealthy status, and perceived stress. However, the medical care cost was the lowest in female blue-collar workers. Conclusions: The findings suggest that female blue-collar workers were more likely to experience health problems, and that despite the highest health risk, health service is not effectively utilized, and health policy maker should take consider of special status of female blue collar workers who are in health inequality.

• Journal of Navigation and Port Research
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.413-420
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• 2016

Seaports are economically significant infrastructures in terms of dealing with more than 90% of the cargo volume in Korea's international trade. Furthermore, investment costs for constructing ports and the impacts of port industry on national competitiveness lead to the necessity for sustainable port operation. However, the earlier studies dealing with competitiveness and sustainability of the port sector focused on its logistical functions related to port size, operational efficiency, etc. Port competitiveness that considers local community and ecological values as well as the expectations and demands of port users is becoming an important issue in order for ports to cope with volatile external environments while maintaining competitiveness. Therefore, it is necessary to identify port performance indicators and measure their performance in terms of the environmental and social perspectives, as well as the economic perspectives, in order to sustain port development and operations. This paper presents findings from case analyses of SuPorts and PPRISM projects that assist European Union (EU) ports to secure sustainable competitiveness while respecting economic, environmental and social interests between ports and local communities. These projects create port performance indicators with balanced views including not only economic value but also environmental and social values. They measure port performance so port operators can implement these sustainable port practices. This study aims to find the critical factors for sustainable port practices by conducting case analyses of SuPorts and PPRISM projects.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.53-74
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• 2010

The creation and acceptance of new technologies has been speeding up dramatically in modern times. There are also significant uncertainties about the future shape of markets, governance and social values that will have an important impact on organizations and their capacity to meet their objectives. These rapid technological and social change and uncertainties make the upsurge of interest in technology foresight, giving rise to its emergence as a global concept and policy tool. A wide range of future methods are available for technology foresight. Selection of methods will depend upon several factors, most notably available and the time financial resources, and the objectives of the exercise. Although Delphi has been widely used for many years, scenario becomes very popular in recent years. The use of scenarios can take better account of the complexity and unpredictability of the economic, social and political environments. Scenarios tell the stories describing paths to different futures, which help organizations make better decisions today. In this study, the scenario method was employed to draw the images of the future of renewable energy. Renewable energy grows dramatically in recent years. However, there is still considerable uncertainty with regard to the potential of renewable energy due to environment regulation, energy costs, and political and economic developments in the main supplier countries for oil and natural gas. Scenario can help us to identify the risks and opportunities when we develop the renewable energy, and to prepare for them. The scenario method is expected to be more utilized in the national technology foresight.

• Journal of Cadastre & Land InformatiX
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.23-38
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• 2019

The National Land Census Project aims to survey the national land regularly to resolve the land category disagreement and reflect the actual land use. The objective of this study is to investigate whether not only the National Land Census Project but also related land and housing surveys bring about the improvement of social welfare in light of the invested budget, and to measure the project feasibility. The potential benefit after the National Land Census Project is not traded in the market. To determine the economic value of this potential benefit, the Contingent Valuation Method was used. This study utilized the single-bounded and double-bounded dichotomous choice models simultaneously to estimate the project feasibility of the cadastral system improvement. According to this study, cost-benefit ratio of the project was estimated larger than 1, which means that social benefits are larger than social costs.