• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.85-108
• /
• 2012

One of the ways to achieve the principle of equal access for equal needs, availability and geographical accessibility of health care resources regardless of resident sites is important. The purpose of this paper is to measure socioeconomic inequities in distribution of health care resources among regions in the Republic of Korea (hereafter Korea). Data were extracted from regional statistics of National Health Insurance, Community Health Survey, Korea Social Science Data Archive, and Korean Statistical Information Services at the same period of 2009. The dependent variables were the number of health workforce and health care facilities in each region. The proxy indicator of regional socioeconomic status was local tax per person. To identify whether inequalities among regions, we examined the concentration index(CI) and indirectly standardized CI by controlling each region's demographics and need factors. Total observations were 232 districts in nationwide, and we analyzed separately Seoul(25 districts) and non-Seoul areas(207 districts). The standardized CI values of health care resources were positive(favoring the rich region) across the nation in almost all kinds of resources. Especially the number of specialist, dentist, dental clinics, clinics, oriental medical clinics, pharmacists, and pharmacies were statistically significantly favoring the rich region. But the CI for the number of long-term care hospitals, public health centers were negative(favoring the poor region). The tendency of CI presenting positive values were increased in Seoul area. But in the case of non-Seoul, the CI indexes were nearly zero. The results suggest that except the Seoul area, little regional socioeconomic-related inequalities were observed in the distribution of health care resources in Korea.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
• /
• v.27 no.1
• /
• pp.161-194
• /
• 2018

This study examines performances of cooperatives relative to investor-owned firms in the US electric power industry. Using a panel data of firms from 2001 to 2014, the results show that cooperatives operate under conditions of more difficult capital constraints associated with the higher cost of debt and limited access to external equity capital. While investor-owned utilities, especially the large utilities that are less capital constrained, take benefits from substantial scale economies existing in the industry, the marginal cost of operation substantially increases with output for cooperatives. I do not find differences in profitability between the two ownership structures, measured by return on assets and return on equity. Plant capacity utilization, which is a measure of plant efficiency conditional on the operation, is also not statistically different between the two groups.

• Education of Primary School Mathematics
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.349-360
• /
• 2016

This cross-national study examines the similarities and differences between Korean and U.S. pre-service teachers' views on equitable mathematics teaching. Pre-service teachers enrolled in mathematics education courses at the two sites (Korea, n=51; U.S., n=33) were administered a survey consisting of the following: (a) items about pre-service teachers' views on equity relative to mathematical ability, classroom policies and practices, and access to learning opportunities, (b) items about pre-service teachers' agreement in their views on recommended practices, and (c) items about participants' past learning experiences in an equitable learning environment as students. Similarities were found between the sites regarding the following: (a) advocating for equitable mathematics teaching, and (b) conceptualizing equitable teaching as a way to support the learning of less capable students. Differences were found with regard to nurturing growth mindsets in mathematics; positioning toward equal opportunities and outcomes in learning; and relating to grouping as collaborative learning strategies.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.76-86
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this study is to investigate the environmental equity of the accessibility to public transportation services in the city of Daegu. The 2005 census data as well as bus stop and subway station datasets were integrated for building the GIS database. Public transportation service areas were then identified by a coverage method. Mann Whitney U test was used for statistically comparing the socioeconomic characteristics over different levels of access to the public transportation services. Both Dong-gu, Suseong-gu, Dalseo-gu, and Buk-gu located outside of the city had worse accessibility than others while Jung-gu, Seo-gu, and Nam-gu had better accessibility than others. There appeared no environmental inequity pattern in terms of the percentages of men, women, and teenagers over the city of Daegu whereas there existed some environmental inequity pattern in terms of the percentages of people above the age of 65 and people below poverty line. This environmental inequity pattern would be caused by some factors. Firstly, the lower income class has tended to reside in the declined or blighted areas far away from public transportation facilities since this class can not afford to pay expensive rents and land prices around the main roads with higher accessibility. Many old people belonging to the lower income class also reside in the declined or blighted areas. Secondly, there has been no law to locate bus stops and subway stations considering residents' socioeconomic characteristics and the spatial distribution of public transportation facilities has been not managed systematically by the city government. This research would shed insight on building the public transportation policy to locate bus stops and subway stations and to select the routes of buses and subways considering the spatial distribution of residents' socioeconomic characteristics.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.67-89
• /
• 2018

In fisheries, as well as in other natural resource-based industries, there is difference between profit and rent. The former is a basic indicator for gauging the business performance of firms, while the latter is for the evaluation of the contribution of resources and industry to economic welfare. Put simply, resource economists are mainly concerned about rent, including pure resource rent and producer surplus (intra-marginal rent [IMR]). In other hand, business economists are mainly concerned about the profitability of the firms comprising the industry. In the academic literature, there are not always clear definitions of the profit and rent concepts and their use in actual analyses. This article will mainly discuss and clarify differences and similarities in profit and rent concepts. In the classical fisheries economic model with one-dimensional homogenous effort and a constant cost per unit of effort, no rent exists in open-access equilibrium. A simple change in this model, for example by introducing heterogeneous effort, opens it to the existence of rent, specifically IMR, at open-access equilibrium. We estimated resource rent and profit from the data using SNA(system of national accounts) and accounting data methods. RR(resource rent) is composed of value-added, compensation of employees, consumption of fixed capital and normal profit in SNA. RR(resource rent) is composed of EBT, Depreciation of fishing rights, financial costs of fishing rights and calculated interests on equity in accounting data methods. We found that the result of two methods is equal. RR is composed of excess profit, rent and interest expenses. In Korea, the magnitude of RR and profit is not different significantly.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.42-56
• /
• 1996

The citizens seek to maximize convenience, pleasantness and safety when they use urban facilities. However, existing practices of urban neighborhood parks have applied not qualitative standards such as adequacy, efficiency, accessibility, equity, or socioeconomic issues but very limited quantitative standards such as area per person. Therefore it is not rare that citizens have lost their accessibility to near-by neighborhood parks. And park regulations based on the distance of lien are supposed to be uniformally accomplished regardless of the consideration about users or geographical special situations. Futhermore, it has been found that some urban neighborhood parks don't reach to the standards given by the regulations. This study tries to accomplished several purposes. The first purpose is to extract the boundary of real user-accessible zones derived from the city survey. Comparing with boundary of real user-accessible zones, the second one is to propose the most efficient measurement indices among many accessibility measurement index. Based upon the above arguments, the last one is to review the propriety of the access distances(e.g., semidiameter) of an urban neighborhood park in a law. The measurement indices of accessibility examined in this study are walking distance, walking time and walking difficulty. The comparison of visual discrimination, the comparison of area and the comparison of differences of maximum distance showed similar results. Each index can also be compared in the size of area and differences of maximum distance. Walking difficulty with the turning showed the best measurement values among the measurement indices. This indicates that walking difficulty with crossing and/or turning may be another important indices in measuring accessibility, while other existing studues have mainly dealt with walking time and distance as accessibility indices. The results of this study also supported that the existing regulations related to park allocation(e.g., access diameter) are close to the findings of this study.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.32 no.3
• /
• pp.272-281
• /
• 2022

With the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, health policymakers are adopting new policies regarding the issue of immunization disparities, especially for children in low-income communities of color who lack awareness and thereby access to vaccines. The purpose of this paper is to propose an evaluation framework using program theory-based evaluation approach and logic model to analyze and evaluate the immunization disparities in children aged 19-35 months. Data is collected from New York City department of Health and the U.S. Census Bureau for Northern Manhattan Start Right Coalition program which consists of 19,800 children, and the community-provider partnership includes 26 practices and 20 groups. Program theory is used to evaluate this community-based initiative with the logic model which is a visual depiction that illustrations the program theory to all stakeholders. The logic model highlights the resources, activities, outputs, outcomes, and impacts of the program to guide to planners and evaluators and to call attention to the inadequacies or flaws in the operational, implementation and service delivery process of the program in offering a new perspective on the program. This framework adds to the literature on evaluations of immunization disparities in determining whether evaluators can definitively attribute positive immunization outcomes in the community to the program and conclude whether it has potential in expanding or duplicating it to other similar settings, especially in other rural areas of the United States, and abroad, where routine immunization equity gaps are wide due to income, racial and ethnic diversity, and language barrier.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.29-38
• /
• 2020

Purpose: The first thing to be done in promoting community care is local diagnosis. Therefore, this study attempted to derive the physical infrastructure to be diagnosed, and to develop diagnostic items and diagnostic indicators applicable to this. Methods:: First, the physical infrastructure related to the community care is derived. And the diagnosis items are derived using the checklist of 'community support and health services' in the WHO Guide for Global age-friendly cities. Next, by analyzing previous studies, we develop diagnostic indicators for each diagnostic item and explore their applicability. Results: As a result of deriving the physical infrastructure for each area of housing, health service, and nursing care for community care, 22 facilities were derived for 9 types. Diagnosis items for the facilities are 1)regional equity, 2)proximity between facilities, 3)transportation access, 4)regional use, 5)barrier-free design, 6)diversity of facilities, and a total of 14 diagnostic indicators was derived. We reviewed and suggested the applicability of diagnostic items and indicators by each physical infrastructure. Implications: For the realization of community care, local diagnosis should not be limited to sim- ply grasping the presence or absence of facilities and the total amount. Instead it should strengthen capabilities by conducting diagnosis to understand the performance of facilities.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.7 no.9
• /
• pp.105-115
• /
• 2020

The study empirically examines the effects of loan portfolio diversification on bank risk and return in the nascent banking market of Vietnam. Loan portfolio diversification is captured through the Hirschman-Herfindahl index and the Shannon Entropy with sectoral exposures. We access each bank's financial reports to collect the required data, especially the breakdown of sectoral loan portfolios, thus constituting a unique dataset. To compute bank return, we use the traditional accounting indicators, including return-on-assets, return-on-equity, and net-interest margin. For bank risk, we utilize the loan-loss provisions and non-performing loans relative to gross customer loans. Using a sample of 30 commercial banks over the period from 2008 to 2019 and the system generalized method of moments estimator for the dynamic panel, we indicate the downsides of portfolio diversification. Concretely, we observe that all diversification measures exhibit significantly negative signs in all regressions across different bank return proxies. At the same time, the estimates display the significant and positive impact of diversification on the non-performing loan ratio. Hence, sectoral loan portfolio diversification significantly hampers bank performance in both aspects of lower return and higher credit risk. The results are robust across a rich set of bank performance and portfolio diversification measures.

• Health Policy and Management
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.86-111
• /
• 2006

Either ways of understanding health care as a commodity or public work are at opposite ends of health care spectrum. These two rival conceptions reflected by viewpoint(ideology) would lead to different directions in policy-making for health care reform. The purpose of this study is to access the value differences of experts' policy views about health care issues by analyzing the extent of consensus among experts in the field of health care. Using primary data obtained through a mail survey of 558 experts in the field of health care, we analyzed the differences of experts' opinions about characteristics of health care market, policy issues and values Gdeology). The study represents from 50-50 split analysis, entropy index, and factor analysis that the wide spread disagreements over health policy, which is a major barriers to effective policy-making, could be caused by the ideological perception differences among experts. This implies that, if values play an important role in policy-making, we should identify the differences in value and seek ways to balance among the diverse values such as efficiency, equity, freedom, and security. For this, the policy issues debated on differences in values should be reconciled for narrowing gaps of experts' perceptions through various ways.