• 토지주택연구
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.11-19
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• 2020

This study aims to examine the relationship between the improvement of the income distribution index from the late 1980s to the 1990s and large-scale housing supply projects such as the 2 million housing construction project. Looking at Korea's economic development in terms of income growth and distribution, GDP has continuously increased since the establishment of the government, especially in the late 1980s. The Gini Index, a representative income inequality index, rapidly deteriorated in the early 1970s, and gradually improved from the late 1980s. The 2 million housing construction project, announced in 1988, supplied a third of the existing nationwide housing stock of 6.5 million units in three years. The project cost was 65 trillion won, equivalent to 50% of Korea's GDP at the time. This study questioned whether the ratio of the number of employed workers in the construction industry was a variable directly affecting the Gini Index. To verify this, the causal relationship between the proportion of employed workers in the construction and manufacturing industries and the Gini Index from 1979 to 2008 was statistically analyzed. For this, the ARIMA model was established for each variable, and the correlation of their residuals was verified. The 2 million housing construction project had the effect of improving income inequality in terms of rising wages for production workers and creating jobs for the low-educated and low-income class. During the project period, the number of middle-income earners increased sharply, and the income gap between the high-income and low-income earners greatly decreased. The expansion of the construction volume can be used as a powerful and direct policy tool for improving income distribution. However, the effect may be limited. When the proportion of workers exceeds the threshold, the effect is weakened.