• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.68 no.3
• /
• pp.51-71
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this study is to clarify macro causes influencing on the diversity of single-mother households poverty among OECD Countries including Korea. This study carried out pooled time series cross-section analysis applying unbalanced panel design on the period from 1981 to 2012. There is marked diversity on single-mother households poverty. GDP per capita does not contributes to reduce poverty, and female employment rate and % population 0-14 exacerbate poverty. Several factors contribute on poverty reduction including social spending, child cash spending, union density, employment protection on regular workers, proportional representation system, cumulative left cabinet, cumulative women seat. In Korea, it needs to overcome the limit of anti-poverty strategy mainly based on economic growth and labor market flexibility. And it needs to enlarge universal welfare institutions, child benefits, work-family reconciliation policy, and to design adjusted labor market institutions including union density and employment protection, to introduce consensus political model including proportional representation system to enhance left power and women's representation.

• Journal of Korea Trade
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.1-22
• /
• 2022

Purpose - This study aims to analyze the influence of South Korea's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) under the effect of both multinational enterprises' (MNEs) investment motivation and host country institutions. Some suggestions are put forward with regard to South Korean MNEs participating in and integrating into the fierce and changeable world of international market competition. Design/methodology - The basic hypotheses are that MNEs' investment motivations and the host country's superior institutions both boost South Korea's OFDI in those host countries. South Korea's OFDI is divided into investment choice stage and investment scale stage. A Heckman two-stage selection model is established for empirical analysis, using the panel data of South Korea's OFDI and related variables, from 2002 to 2019. Findings - (1) The influence on the investment scale of South Korea's OFDI is more regular and noteworthy than the influence on investment choice. (2) In the investment scale stage, there are obvious motivations to seek markets, labor force and superior technology, but not natural resources. (3) In the investment scale stage, the South Korea's OFDI is more obviously attracted by the host country's superior political institutions, economic institutions and legal institutions, but not cultural institutions. Originality/value - The choices of variables and uses of model expand the theoretical basis and empirical method of OFDI research. The results of the empirical study also provide some reference for the transnational investment of South Korean MNEs and the investment policy formulation of the South Korean government.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.19-65
• /
• 2000

This study analyzes the development of technological infrastructure(TI) and technological infrastructure policy(TIP) to enhance the technological capabilities of small and mid-sized manufacturing enterprises(SMEs) in the U.S. and Korea in terms of the technological system(TS) concept, which is composed of technological infrastructure, industrial organization, and institutional infrastructure. In order to analyze the internal dynamics of the system, such as incentive mechanisms, the interaction among economic actors, and the policy implementation process, we compare the MEP(Manufacturing Extension Partnership) system of the U.S. and the Joong-Jin-Gong system of Korea. Among many similarities, contrasts, and insights from each country's effort to construct TI and TS, the main findings are as follows. (1) Both the MEP system and the Joong-Jin-Cong system are TI-led or government-led type TS. However, the nation-wide picture is different: in the U.S., most TSs including the MEP system., are classified as TI-led type; in Korea, many TI-assisted or private sector-led TSs have been developed since the early 1960s. (2) the MEP system, as a representative case of the U.S., is less stable than the Joong-Jin-Gong system of Korea in terms of financing and political cycle. (3) The MEP system is a more complex and cooperative network than the Joong-Jin-Gong system. NIST, as a critical mass, generates the system, bridges various institutions, and influences the development of the system by providing funding. (4) Regarding TI components, TSs in both countries focus on utilizing off-the-shelf technologies rather than advanced technologies. However, the direction of movement is different: in the U.S., TSs have come to emphasize existing technologies to counterbalance an innovation system that has been highly focused toward new technologies; in Korea, TSs have been moving from focusing on a higher diffusion rate of imported process technologies to stressing new technology development. (5) Personnel and staffing, embodying technological capability, is an important concern in both countries. But the human capital infrastructure of the U.S. system is more efficient and industry-oriented than that of the Korean system due to a more flexible labor market. (6) While the U.S. has a strong tradition of state and local autonomy in constructing TI and TS to fit SMEs's specific need, Korea has a centralized and bureaucratically-led policy implementation process.

• 한국사회정책
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.3-43
• /
• 2018

The digital revolution has brought about both positive expectations and negative concerns. Many experts predict that the current technological revolution, so-called "Fourth Industrial Revolution", which is expected to increase productivity in a disruptive way, has significant implications on employment and the labor market. In subsequence, the possible demise of the traditional employment system could markedly undermine the comtemporary welfare state. As a result, basic income has emerged as an alternative. However, little welfare state research has conducted the systematic review on the impact of the present technological revolution on employment and welfare states. In this paper, we will start to review the gist of the digital revolution and critically review recent studies on its effects on employment and welfare states together with actual case studies. In particular, we will investigate the experiences of platform economies of Uber and Amazon Mechanical Turk, and the German experience from 'Work 4.0'. Finally, we will discuss key issues of future welfare state reforms. This research argues that the effects of the technological revolution on employment and welfare state policies would be enormous, but they will be most likely to be mediated by domestic political and policy institutions. It emphasizes the importance of high-quality social investment that would enable individuals to flexibly adapt technological changes and support creative human capital resource. But, high-quality social investment could not be sustained without the decent social protection system that universally provides security to people.

• Journal of Distribution Research
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.39-57
• /
• 2012

The unabated influx of micro businesses has turned the Korean retailing market to a rat race, which causes severe financial distress for micro business owners due to heavy competition. The woes of these micro business owner's are exacerbated by the presence of large scale distributors such as Super Supermarket(SSM) and large discount stores. In summary, the Korean retail market is overburdened an uneconomically viable. Retailing has low barriers to entry which attracts unskilled labor or those with little capital. These start-ups have low opportunity costs since they would make low wages elsewhere in the economy. Thus, these owners are content with relatively low returns on their investment. These 'subsistence ventures' are maintained for economical viability rather than economic growth. These 'subsistence ventures' intensifies competition among small-scale businesses. The presence of large retail corporations also aggravates the situation. The recent stagnation of the economy has worsened the retail market in Korea. The overwhelming competition solidifies the coarse structural system and the prolonged economic sluggishness has increased the risk of insolvency for micro business owners. As the economy continues to stagnate, the imminent risk in retailing market will rise up to surface threatening economic stability. More systematic inflows and outflows of retailers are required in order to redress this structural problem. It has been empirically shown that the self-employment rate is high in Korea compared to other OECD countries. To draw the comparison of self-employment rate by industry, Korea shows high rates among transportation, whole sale, retail, education, lodging, and restaurants. In the case of the transportation and education service sectors, this high rate can be explained by the idiosyncratic nature of Korean culture. In the transportation sector, political policies favor private cap service and private freight carriers. In the education service sector, Koreans put particular emphasis on education that leads to many private institutions that outnumber other OECD countries. For these singular reasons, Korea maintains high micro business, self-employed rates particularly in retailing. A comparable nation is Japan, with its similar social, economic, cultural environment among OECD countries. Unlike Korea, Japan has much lower rates of micro business which continues to decrease. Also Korean retailers are much more destitute than Japanese. The fundamental problem of Korean retailing is the involuntary exit of these 'subsistence ventures,' micro businesses with low margins, in which a small drop in demand can lead to financial difficulties for the owner. This problem will be exacerbated when Korean babyboomers retire and join the micro business ventures. The first priority in order to cope with the severity of oversupply in retailing is to provide better opportunities for the potential self-employers. There should be viable alternatives to subsistent ventures. Strengthening the retirement program, scrutiny of exit process, reconfiguration of policy funds are the recommendations.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
• /
• v.100 no.3
• /
• pp.423-431
• /
• 2011

The changes of forest degradation in North Korea have closely been related to political, economic and social conditions at all different times. The deforestation by local people for their livelihood has been accelerated when the recession has been worsened due to the 1990's collapse of socialism and the years of natural disasters, and the fall of the centralized and planned economy system. The serious recession in the 1990's has brought many changes in the North Korean society since the 2000's. Not only the underground economy, but also the market in which personal trades are occurred have been expanded as the distribution system of the planned economy system had fallen. In addition, even many state institutions have also increased timber harvest for export to acquire insufficient foreign currency. Eventually, North Korea felt the limits of utilization of forest resources under socialism then started to seek measures to restore devastated forest, while realizing the need of support from the international society. Therefore, some NGOs of South Korea started to give financial support on building tree nurseries in which seedlings for planting are produced to help the rehabilitation of the degraded forests in North Korea. Therefore, Planning of the basic directions for forest rehabilitation programs considering to economic and social conditions of North Korea are needed based on the successful rehabilitation experience of South Korea in the 1970's. First of all, relationships which was built after collapse of centrally planned economy between districts, businesses and workers must be consider to rehabilitate forests in North Korea. Secondly, due to the nature of forest rehabilitation projects this is very needs voluntary participation of resident for a long time, and then forest rehabilitation projects can create jobs for local resident, they can obtain continuous income on the forest rehabilitation projects field in order to promote resident's work in forest rehabilitation projects. Thirdly, the rate dependence on forests of the residents living must keep the level down by rural development projects going side by side with forest rehabilitation projects. Fourthly, use of exsisting forest management system in North Korea is also needed to ensure administrative power and labor for grand scale plantations in a short period of time. Meanwhile after the success of Forest Rehabilitation, it is very important to improve exsisting forest management system.