• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.53-95
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• 2015

This paper first constructs an occupation code-skill match for the Korean labor market by following Autor-Dorn classification on the tasks framework. Over the last 34 years, middle-skill jobs have vanished enormously, while high-skill and low-skill jobs have both increased. Also, jobs have polarized more rapidly in recessions and changed uniquely by pushing old workers into middle and low-skilled jobs and the inter-sector reallocation of workers. Furthermore, jobless recoveries in the recent business cycle could have been alleviated considerably if job polarization had been mitigated.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.1-29
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• 2013

This paper examines the effect of trade liberalization or globalization, more broadly, on plants' growth as well as on "bi-polarization". To do so, we reviewed the possible theoretical mechanisms put forward by recent heterogeneous firm trade theories, and provided available micro-evidence from existing empirical studies on Korean manufacturing sector. Above all, the empirical evidence provided in this paper strongly suggests that globalization promoted growth of Korean manufacturing plants. Specifically, evidence suggests that exporting not only increases within-plant productivity but also promotes introduction of new products and dropping of old products. However, the empirical evidence also suggest that globalization has some downsides: widening productivity differences across plants and rising wage inequality between skilled and unskilled workers. Specifically, trade liberalization widens the initial productivity differences among plants through learning from export market participation as well as through interactions between exporting and R&D, both of which increase plants' productivity. We also show that there is only a small group of large and productive "superstar" plants engaged in both R&D and exporting activity, which can fully utilize the potential benefits from globalization. Finally, we also show evidence that trade liberalization interacts with innovation to increase the skilled-unskilled wage inequality.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.89-109
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• 2006

The 'Joongsancheung(JSC)', a unique term for the middle class in Korea, is defined as a stratum sharing common lifestyles and a certain level of life chances. It involves non-economic factors such as life chance, educational attainment, occupational groups as well as economic factor. Such objective measures as the occupational status of the main breadwinner, family income, and the educational level of respondent, and subjective measures of class identification are used for the operational definition of the JSC. Data from a national survey of 1,515 respondents is analyzed to investigate the change of the JSC in size and the major determinants of class identification. The results show that while there is no strong evidence of any significant change of the JSC by the objective measures during the recent decade, there seems to be a slight decrease in the subjective class identification. In addition, binary logistical regression analysis reveals that self-identification of JSC is heavily influenced by house ownership, along with subjective evaluation of one's own income and property ownership. This study demonstrates that the apparent class polarization in Korean society reflects not so much objective conditions but subjective perception of respondent of his or her circumstance. It is suggested that problems of housing and relative derivation people have as regards income and property should be resolved to alleviate such class polarization in Korean society.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.97-129
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• 2005

Korean society recently witnesses a rapid lllcrease of suicide across all ages. In particular, suicide in old ages jumps up ill a very unexpected way. Furthermore, the order of suicide in the cause of death across all ages is becoming higher and higher in Korea. This study provides details of suicide that occurs in Korean society with the comparison to that of Japan at the descriptive level. It is not well known why suicide in Korean surges recently. Several previous research show the possibility that surging suicide is closely related to the worsened economic conditions especially since the economic crisis in 1997. They adopt economic growth, unemployment rate, income distribution, household finance index as economic indicators in their research. This study also adopts those indicators and conducts a correlation analysis in two periods, 1990-1997 and 1998-2004. It is found that there is no correlation between economic indicators and suicide in the period of 1990-1997. On the other hand, there is a very strong correlation between income distribution and suicide in the period of 1998-2004. Other economic indicators except income distribution does not have any significant correlation with suicide. This finding suggests that currently increasing suicide in Korea may be a result of economic polarization, which has been worsened since the economic crisis in 1997.

• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.49-68
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• 2022

This study was conducted to design a financial system for the sustainable life of mankind. Human society faces a constant crisis and leads a life while overcoming it. The polarization is intensifying in the process of overcoming the economic crisis or crisis caused by the virus. In a society adopting the capitalist economic system, it is a common phenomenon that polarization intensifies with the passage of time, but since the intensification of polarization can destroy human society as a community, active countermeasures are required. The purpose of this study was to prevent the deepening of polarization by redesigning important financial-related systems from the perspective of human life and maintenance of human society. Through the history of mankind, monetary and financial systems related to sustainable society have been analyzed, and a financial system model that is ideal for the modern and future society and is sustainable in the long term has been derived. The conditions for a long-term sustainable financial system should be a model that can solve the problems of the current system, such as deepening polarization, and a model that is faithful to the characteristics of the modern economic society and the essence of sustainable life. And it can be sustainable only if it is based on the common principles of human society. It should be a model that guarantees core values such as growth and equality that human society demands. After analyzing the problems of the current economic system and analyzing the conditions required for the new system, the basic axioms that the new financial system should be based on were presented, and a desirable model was derived based on this. The structure of the derived model and the specific operation model were presented. In the future, follow-up studies are needed to concrete this model.

• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.355-356
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• 2014

많은 지역에서 구도심 개발이 지역정체성을 훼손하고 거주민의 소외라는 부작용에 직면하고 있는 가운데 가장 모범적인 도심개발사례 중 하나로 손꼽히는 부산 감천문화마을을 통해 지역의 문화와 역사가 어우러진 대표적인 명소로 자리 잡게 된 과정을 소개한다. 지역개발은 다양한 측면의 가치 창출을 동반하는 종합적인 기능과 더불어 관광수익의 창출이라는 경제적 가치를 추구한다. 감천문화마을은 구도심과 신도심간 양극화를 해소하고 지역이미지를 제고하는 차원에서 의미있는 도심재생사례가 될 것이다.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.457-479
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• 2013

Through a Chinese rise, Chinese dream is actualizing as the world's great power. According to outlook of World Bank and IMF, Around 2030 China will be a great power bigger than America's economic power. The rise of China will give a huge impact to the whole world. China expands her influence through a global manufacturing base and a global market. To actualize 'Peaceful Rise' Strategy, China has many constraints. Chinese society is facing many difficult social problem due to side effects of a rapid development. Such as the spread of corruption, the severity of wealth gap, environmental degradation and energy shortage. Internationally there are containment from hegemon so-called 'China threat' dispute, Taiwan issue and territorial disputes. Western countries are hostile to China for two reasons. Based on expectations, one is China's socialist system and the other is the rising China which will compete for supremacy with Europe and America. Recent emergence of Chinese nationalism and the containment of the neighboring countries are also serious limiting factors. Domestically they have the rampant corruption in the bureaucracy, weakened capacity of Communist rule, wealth disparity due to the discriminatory economic development strategy, seriousness of rural problem, social instability, lack of social security systems and the development gap between the eastern coastal areas and western inland areas, ethnic minorities problems, the constraint of sustainable development issues due to lack of resources, environmental pollution and energy constraints. Like the former Soviet Union, China may face a dismantlement. After the rise, China may encounter possibilities of a war between great powers or a collapse of Chinese society caused by deepening internal conflict. Serious economic polarization would make peasants and urban workers, who are social vulnerable people, to turn their back to communist party and threaten the justification and the appropriateness of the ruling communist party. Chinese government will think internal system security threat is more formidable risk factor than a system security threat from the hegemon. The decline of great country comes from internal reasons rather than external reasons. To achieve peaceful rise, unification with Taiwan is an essential prerequisite. Taiwan issues are complex problems which equipped with international and domestic factors. Lack of energy resources, environmental pollution in China will bring economic crisis to Korean enterprises. Important influence to Korean economy will be a changeover of the method in economic development. It will turn the balance of investment and consumption, GDP-centered growth to consumption and environment-centered growth. Services industries including finance, environment, culture, education, health care and social welfare will grow. Change in China's growth model will give a great challenge upon the intermediate goods industry in Korea. Korea should reduce the portion of machinery, automotive, semiconductor, steel and chemical-centered export industry to China, and should increase the proportion of the service industry.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.103-138
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is: (1) to compare the awareness of inequality concept between Korea and other countries using the survey, (2) to identify whether several inequality measures, which have diverse concepts, are different in empirical aspect, and (3) to suggest the direction for the income distribution policy in Korea. The results of the survey has shown a surprising fact in that the majority of respondents do not agree with the basic assumptions outlined by Gini coefficient, which is the relative inequality measures that had been generally accepted in the past. These results are very similar to those of other countries. However, the major difference with other countries is that the Koreans feel that absolute income inequality-the income gap between the poor and rich, has increased more than relative income inequality, when all incomes of social members are doubled. From the result it is difficult to say that the bi-polarization index is different from Gini coefficient in statistical aspect although it has different theoretical background. The national development strategy should seek to promote "the pro-poor growth" since the change of inequality affect differently on the change of growth and inequality depending on whether the inequality change is relative or absolute.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.729-742
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• 2016

Socio-economic polarization in Korea partly due to recent globalization and industrial restructuring could reduce social mobility significantly through passing down educational achievement to one's children. Under the notion that residential segregation is geographical frame for the reproduction of educational inequality, this research investigates residential segregation by educational attainment and neighborhood disparity with a case study of Seoul. The statistical analyses employed local segregation measures such as Location Quotient and Local Moran's I and a variety of variables that reflect neighborhood characteristics. As a result, it found that there are sharp and clear contracts between low- and high-educational group concentrations/clusters particularly in terms of housing characteristics and educational facilities. This results provide some evidences that support the arguments about the causes of residential segregation by class in Korean Cities.

• 한국벤처창업학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2019.11a
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• pp.161-163
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• 2019

4차 산업혁명의 도래로 산업 유형은 어느 한 종류로 단정하기 어려운 융복합적 형태로 변화를 거듭하고 있다. 뿐만 아니라, 과거 성장 중심 경제발전 모델이 저성장과 함께 양극화, 고용불안과 같은 다양한 사회문제를 야기함에 따라 새로운 발전 패러다임에 대한 관심과 요구도 그 어느 때보다 높아지고 있다. 이러한 일련의 환경 변화는 과거 제조업 중심의 경제성장을 주도해왔던 한국 공적보증제도에도 혁신을 촉구하고 있다. 신용보증기금은 2018년 현재 총 보증잔액 50.5조원을 보유한, 한국에서 가장 큰 규모의 공적보증기관이으로 지난 1976년 설립 후 40여 년간 산업육성과 시장안정이라는 두 가지 정책적 목표를 달성하기 위해 다양한 산업 분야와 기업에 신용보증을 제공해왔다. 1997년 IMF 외환위기, 2008년 글로벌 금융위기 등 국가적 위기 때마다 시장안전판 역할을 성공적으로 수행하며 한국경제가 신속히 위기에서 벗어나는데 공헌하기도 했다. 그러나 이제 신용보증기금은 과거의 성과와 역할에 얽매이지 않고, 급변하고 있는 경제 기술환경 속에서 또 다른 역할을 모색하고 있다. 구체적으로는 중소기업에 대한 보증지원이라는 기존 역할에서 한발 나아가, 혁신생태계 조성, 데이터뱅크 플랫폼 구축, 사회적가치 확산을 위한 전사적 사업구조 혁신을 단행하고 있다. 본 보고서에는 환경변화에 부응해 새로운 역할을 수행하고자 노력하는 신용보증기금의 활동과 성과를 담았다. 여기에 제시된 신용보증기금의 사례들은 벤처캐피탈이 활성화된 서양 국가들과 달리, 정책금융 역할이 상대적으로 중요한 아시아 지역의 중소기업 금융 활성화에 효과적인 정책적 시사점을 제공할 수 있을 것으로 기대한다.