• Journal of Service Research and Studies
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.117-137
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• 2024

ESG has become a necessity for all companies, and major Korean banks are actively practicing ESG management. Banks are playing a role in providing ESG finance as intermediaries in the supply of funds. Recently, they have launched ESG digital banking products that offer preferential interest rates for eco-friendly activities in combination with digital technologies. However, indiscriminate provision of preferential interest rates can adversely affect profitability of banks, and they may face the problem of 'Greenwashing' if they do not contribute to improving environmental awareness. Therefore, this study selected ESG digital savings products linked to electricity savings as the subject of the study, and empirically analyzed consumers' environmental awareness and savings behavior through actual data of consumers (N=2,478). The main findings of this study are as follows First, the analysis of the consumer status of ESG digital banking products shows that the 30-50s are the main consumer base, and the MZ generation shows relatively high performance in achieving preferential interest rates through electricity saving practices. Second, consumers' environmental awareness has a significant impact on achieving the goals of ESG banking products. ESG banking products can contribute to environmental awareness while fulfilling the basic function of saving. Third, environmental awareness did not drive consumers' savings contribution behavior, suggesting the need for continued consumer engagement. Based on environmental awareness and the theory of saving behavior, this study provides a theoretical explanation in ESG financial products. The results suggest that the appropriateness of the preferential interest rate design of ESG financial products is important.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.29-94
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• 1974

Today most developed countries provide modern medical care for most of the population. The rural area is the more neglected area in the medical and health field. In public health, the philosophy is that medical care for in maintenance of health is a basic right of man; it should not be discriminated against racial, environmental or financial situations. The deficiency of the medical care system, cultural bias, economic development, and ignorance of the residents about health care brought about the shortage of medical personnel and facilities on the rural areas. Moreover, medical students and physicians have been taught less about rural health care than about urban health care. Medical care, therefore, is insufficient in terms of health care personnel/and facilities in rural areas. Under such a situation, there is growing concern about the health problems among the rural population. The findings presented in this report are useful measures of the major health problems and even more important, as a guide to planning for improved medical care systems. It is hoped that findings from this study will be useful to those responsible for improving the delivery of health service for the rural population. Objectives: -to determine the health status of the residents in the rural areas. -to assess the rural population's needs in terms of health and medical care. -to make recommendations concerning improvement in the delivery of health and medical care for the rural population. Procedures: For the sampling design, the ideal would be to sample according to the proportion of the composition age-groups. As the health problems would be different by group, the sample was divided into 10 different age-groups. If the sample were allocated by proportion of composition of each age group, some age groups would be too small to estimate the health problem. The sample size of each age-group population was 100 people/age-groups. Personal interviews were conducted by specially trained medical students. The interviews dealt at length with current health status, medical care problems, utilization of medical services, medical cost paid for medical care and attitudes toward health. In addition, more information was gained from the public health field, including environmental sanitation, maternal and child health, family planning, tuberculosis control, and dental health. The sample Sample size was one fourth of total population: 1,438 The aged 10-14 years showed the largest number of 254 and the aged under one year was the smallest number of 81. Participation in examination Examination sessions usually were held in the morning every Tuesday, Wenesday, and Thursday for 3 hours at each session at the Namchun Health station. In general, the rate of participation in medical examination was low especially in ages between 10-19 years old. The highest rate of participation among are groups was the under one year age-group by 100 percent. The lowest use rate as low as 3% of those in the age-groups 10-19 years who are attending junior and senior high school in Taegu city so the time was not convenient for them to recieve examinations. Among the over 20 years old group, the rate of participation of female was higher than that of males. The results are as follows: A. Publie health problems Population: The number of pre-school age group who required child health was 724, among them infants numbered 96. Number of eligible women aged 15-44 years was 1,279, and women with husband who need maternal health numbered 700. The age-group of 65 years or older was 201 needed more health care and 65 of them had disabilities. (Table 2). Environmental sanitation: Seventy-nine percent of the residents relied upon well water as a primary source of dringking water. Ninety-three percent of the drinking water supply was rated as unfited quality for drinking. More than 90% of latrines were unhygienic, in structure design and sanitation (Table 15). Maternal and child health: Maternal health Average number of pregnancies of eligible women was 4 times. There was almost no pre- and post-natal care. Pregnancy wastage Still births was 33 per 1,000 live births. Spontaneous abortion was 156 per 1,000 live births. Induced abortion was 137 per 1,000 live births. Delivery condition More than 90 percent of deliveries were conducted at home. Attendants at last delivery were laymen by 76% and delivery without attendants was 14%. The rate of non-sterilized scissors as an instrument used to cut the umbilical cord was as high as 54% and of sickles was 14%. The rate of difficult delivery counted for 3%. Maternal death rate estimates about 35 per 10,000 live births. Child health Consultation rate for child health was almost non existant. In general, vaccination rate of children was low; vaccination rates for children aged 0-5 years with BCG and small pox were 34 and 28 percent respectively. The rate of vaccination with DPT and Polio were 23 and 25% respectively but the rate of the complete three injections were as low as 5 and 3% respectively. The number of dead children was 280 per 1,000 living children. Infants death rate was 45 per 1,000 live births (Table 16), Family planning: Approval rate of married women for family planning was as high as 86%. The rate of experiences of contraception in the past was 51%. The current rate of contraception was 37%. Willingness to use contraception in the future was as high as 86% (Table 17). Tuberculosis control: Number of registration patients at the health center currently was 25. The number indicates one eighth of estimate number of tuberculosis in the area. Number of discharged cases in the past accounted for 79 which showed 50% of active cases when discharged time. Rate of complete treatment among reasons of discharge in the past as low as 28%. There needs to be a follow up observation of the discharged cases (Table 18). Dental problems: More than 50% of the total population have at least one or more dental problems. (Table 19) B. Medical care problems Incidence rate: 1. In one month Incidence rate of medical care problems during one month was 19.6 percent. Among these health problems which required rest at home were 11.8 percent. The estimated number of patients in the total population is 1,206. The health problems reported most frequently in interviews during one month are: GI trouble, respiratory disease, neuralgia, skin disease, and communicable disease-in that order, The rate of health problems by age groups was highest in the 1-4 age group and in the 60 years or over age group, the lowest rate was the 10-14 year age group. In general, 0-29 year age group except the 1-4 year age group was low incidence rate. After 30 years old the rate of health problems increases gradually with aging. Eighty-three percent of health problems that occured during one month were solved by primary medical care procedures. Seventeen percent of health problems needed secondary care. Days rested at home because of illness during one month were 0.7 days per interviewee and 8days per patient and it accounts for 2,161 days for the total productive population in the area. (Table 20) 2. In a year The incidence rate of medical care problems during a year was 74.8%, among them health problems which required rest at home was 37 percent. Estimated number of patients in the total population during a year was 4,600. The health problems that occured most frequently among the interviewees during a year were: Cold (30%), GI trouble (18), respiratory disease (11), anemia (10), diarrhea (10), neuralgia (10), parasite disease (9), ENT (7), skin (7), headache (7), trauma (4), communicable disease (3), and circulatory disease (3) -in that order. The rate of health problems by age groups was highest in the infants group, thereafter the rate decreased gradually until the age 15-19 year age group which showed the lowest, and then the rate increased gradually with aging. Eighty-seven percent of health problems during a year were solved by primary medical care. Thirteen percent of them needed secondary medical care procedures. Days rested at home because of illness during a year were 16 days per interviewee and 44 days per patient and it accounted for 57,335 days lost among productive age group in the area (Table 21). Among those given medical examination, the conditions observed most frequently were respiratory disease, GI trouble, parasite disease, neuralgia, skin disease, trauma, tuberculosis, anemia, chronic obstructive lung disease, eye disorders-in that order (Table 22). The main health problems required secondary medical care are as fellows: (previous page). Utilization of medical care (treatment) The rate of treatment by various medical facilities for all health problems during one month was 73 percent. The rate of receiving of medical care of those who have health problems which required rest at home was 52% while the rate of those who have health problems which did not required rest was 61 percent (Table 23). The rate of receiving of medical care for all health problems during a year was 67 percent. The rate of receiving of medical care of those who have health problems which required rest at home was 82 percent while the rate of those who have health problems which did not required rest was as low as 53 percent (Table 24). Types of medical facilitied used were as follows: Hospital and clinics: 32-35% Herb clinics: 9-10% Drugstore: 53-58% Hospitalization Rate of hospitalization was 1.7% and the estimate number of hospitalizations among the total population during a year will be 107 persons (Table 25). Medical cost: Average medical cost per person during one month and a year were 171 and 2,800 won respectively. Average medical cost per patient during one month and a year were 1,109 and 3,740 won respectively. Average cost per household during a year was 15,800 won (Table 26, 27). Solution measures for health and medical care problems in rural area: A. Health problems which could be solved by paramedical workers such as nurses, midwives and aid nurses etc. are as follows: 1. Improvement of environmental sanitation 2. MCH except medical care problems 3. Family planning except surgical intervention 4. Tuberculosis control except diagnosis and prescription 5. Dental care except operational intervention 6. Health education for residents for improvement of utilization of medical facilities and early diagnosis etc. B. Medical care problems 1. Eighty-five percent of health problems could be solved by primary care procedures by general practitioners. 2. Fifteen percent of health problems need secondary medical procedures by a specialist. C. Medical cost Concidering the economic situation in rural area the amount of 2,062 won per residents during a year will be burdensome, so financial assistance is needed gorvernment to solve health and medical care problems for rural people.

• The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-22
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• 2008

This study is to evaluate, to the extent to, which advanced currency futures and emerging currency futures markets can predict accurately the future spot rate. To this end, Johansen's the maximum-likelihood cointegration method(1988, 1991) is adopted to test the unbiasedness and efficiency hypothesis. Also, this study is to estimate and compare a quantitative measure of relative efficiency as a ratio of the forecast error variance from the best-fitting quasi-error correction model to the forecast error variance of the futures price as predictor of the spot price in advanced currency futures with in emerging currency futures market. Advanced currency futures is British pound and Japan yen. Emerging currency futures includes Korea won, Mexico peso, and Brazil real. The empirical results are summarized as follows : First, the unbiasedness hypothesis is not rejected for Korea won and Japan yen futures exchange rates. This indicates that the emerging currency Korea won and the advanced currency Japan yen futures exchange rates are likely to predict accurately realized spot exchange rate at a maturity date without the trader having to pay a risk premium for the privilege of trading the contract. Second, in emerging currency futures markets, the unbiasedness hypothesis is not rejected for Korea won futures market apart from Mexico peso and Brazil real futures markets. This indicates that in emerging currency futures markets, Korea won futures market is more efficient than Mexico peso and Brazil real futures markets and is likely to predict accurately realized spot exchange rate at a maturity date without risk premium. Third, this findings show that the results of unbiasedness hypothesis tests can provide conflicting finding. according to currency futures class and forecasts horizon period, Fourth, from the best-fitting quasi-error correction model with forecast horizons of 14 days, the findings suggest the Japan yen futures market is 27.06% efficient, the British pound futures market is 26.87% efficient, the Korea won futures market is 20.77% efficient, the Mexico peso futures market is 11.55%, and the Brazil real futures market is 4.45% efficient in the usual order. This indicates that the Korea won-dollar futures market is more efficient than Mexico peso, and Brazil real futures market. It is therefore possible to concludes that the Korea won-dollar currency futures market has relatively high efficiency comparing with Mexico peso and Brazil real futures markets of emerging currency futures markets.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.39-57
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• 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
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• v.87 no.4
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• pp.519-527
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• 1998

An economic study of vegetation control to increase production of Songyi (Korean name far pine mushroom, matsutake, Tracholoma matsutake (S. Ito & Imai) Sing.) in red pine (Panes densiflora) stands in Korea was undertaken. In Korea, Songyi grows only in red pine stands. Harvest of this mushroom provides a significant income source to rural people in Korea yielding exports of US$20 million to US$80 million per year. However, hypogeous Songyi colonies and the mushroom production are declining, partly because shade tolerant species are succeeding the shade intolerant red pine. Past research says that it is possible to deep Songyi production increasing by controlling under-story vegetation. But few people are wilting to invest in the necessary control. Our analysis found that the economics of vegetation control appear to be quite favorable, showing an internal rate of return (IRR) of 20.7 percent in 15 years. However, positive returns do not occur for at least eight years and even then, the returns may not appear to the landowner to be a result of vegetation control efforts only because the mushroom production has been greatly variable depending on weather conditions. In a sensitivity analysis, it was found that the number of circular mushroom colonies was critically important for the cash flow. Results of this analysis are also sensitive to assumptions about annual growth length(0.16m radial growth=1.0m/circular length growth) of Songyi colony. However, the primary goal of vegetation control should be to keep the young colonies growing. Further research in the behavior of hypogeous Songyi colonies after vegetation control would help to improve our confidence in the results.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.319-333
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• 2024

Background: This study aims to identify the factors that influence the incidence of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) for the elderly living alone and to discuss how to manage CHE for the elderly living alone. Methods: This study utilizes 6th (2016), 7th (2018), and 8th (2020) data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging to identify the incidence rate of CHE among the elderly living alone and conducts a panel logit analysis. The dependent variable is the incidence of CHE (thresholds: 10%, 20%, 30%), and the independent variables include demographic factors (gender, age group, region), socioeconomic factors (education level, economic activity status, income quintile, financial support rate from children), health-related factors (subjective health status, regular exercise, smoking, drinking, number of chronic diseases), and healthcare coverage factors (type of health insurance, private health insurance). Results: Descriptive statistics classified by gender show that female elderly living alone are more vulnerable than male elderly living alone in terms of disease prevalence and socioeconomic status. In addition, the incidence of CHE is higher for elderly women living alone than for elderly men living alone across all thresholds. The main results of the panel logit analysis show that higher education, income quintile, and financial support rate from children are associated with lower odds of CHE, while poorer subjective health and a higher number of chronic diseases are associated with higher odds of CHE. Medical aid recipients are less likely to incur CHE than those covered by national health insurance. Conclusion: The implications of this study are as follows. First, vulnerable elderly living alone with multiple chronic diseases and low income and education levels are more likely to incur CHE. Second, it is necessary to review policies such as a CHE support program and chronic disease management programs focused on vulnerable elderly individuals living alone. Third, the CHE support program should be operated in a patient-centered manner, with consideration given to a customized system for selecting and supporting elderly individuals living alone who are in need.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.155-173
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• 2024

Using Regional Employment Survey, this article analyzes the widening employment gap between Capital and Non-Capital regions since the 2008 global financial crisis through describing the spatial distribution of employment by industry and occupation, calculating the regional downward employment rate of university graduates, and estimating the regional distribution of employment growth in terms of wage distribution, and then statistically analyzes the effect of the declining manufacturing employment in the Non-Capital region since the mid-2010s on total employment change. The results from these analyses are as follows. First, since the mid-2000s, the share of producer services and white-collar jobs has increased in the Capital region. Second, the Non-Capital region has a higher share of non-regular workers relative to wage workers than the Capital region. Third, while the downward employment rate has increased in the Non-Capital region since the mid-2010s, it has risen very modestly or stagnated in the Capital region. Fourth, in terms of wage distribution, the pattern of employment growth since the mid-2010s has been U-shaped, a typical polarized pattern of simultaneous growth in low- and high-wage jobs and decline in middle-wage jobs in the Non-Capital region, while in the Capital region it has been L-shaped with the sides reversed, driven by growth in high-wage jobs. Fifth, this employment polarization in the Non-Capital region since the mid-2010s is associated with employment changes in manufacturing, which accounts for a large share of middle wage jobs. Finally, according to the analysis of the effect of regional manufacturing employment changes on total employment changes since the mid-2010s, declines in manufacturing employment reduce the region's regular employment rate and have a larger negative employment effect in the Non-Capital region. Based on these findings, some policy issues are discussed including the branch plant economy regime based on spatial separation of conception and execution, the mix of geographic and skill mobility, the need to improve employability and jobs through human capital accumulation, and short- and long-term responses to employment fluctuations.

• Proceedings of the Technology Innovation Conference
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• 1996.12a
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• pp.265-295
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• 1996

This paper investigates empirically the relationship between various business portfolio properties (particularly technological properties) and chaebol′s performance using data on the 50 largest chaebols in Korea. In addition to the traditional indexes to measure diversification such as entropy index we calculated inter-industry technological similarity using R&D expenditure data by industry and 1990 Input-output Table in Korea, and obtained chaebol-level technological relatedness and internal transaction proportion from chaebols′business profile, inter-industry technological similarity and 1990 input-output table. We applied factor analysis on 13 business portfolio property indexes and showed that they could be grouped into 3 dimensions, diversification scope, inter-business relatedness and degree of vertical integration. In this paper, using 50 largest chaebols′financial data (1989-1994), we analyzed empirically the effect of business portfolio properties on ROS (Return On Sales) which is conventional index for firm performance and on TFP(Total Factor Productivity) growth which is a pure measure of firm performance. To utilize the advantage of panel data, FEM(Fixed Effect Model) and REM(Random Effect Model) were used. The empirical result shows that the entropy index as a measurement of inter-business relatedness is not significant but technological relatedness index is significant. OLS estimates on pooled data were considerably different from FEM or REM estimates on panel data. By introducing interaction effect among the three variables for business portfolio properties, we obtained three findings. First, only VI (Vertical integration) has a significant positive correlation with ROS. Second, when using TFP growth as an dependent variable, both TR(Technological Relatedness) and f[ are significant and positively related to the deepened variable. Third, the interaction term between TR and VI is significant and negatively affects TFP growth, meaning that TR and VI are substitutes. These results suggest strategic directions on restructuring business portfolio. As VI is increased, chaebols will get more profit. A higher level of either TR or W will increase TFP growth rate. but increase in both TR and VI will have a negative effect on TFP growth. To summarize, certain business portfolio properties such as VI and TR can be considered "resources" themselves since they can affect profit rate and productivity growth. VI and TR have a synergy effect of change in profit rate and productivity growth. VI increases ROS and productivity growth, while TR increases productivity growth representing a technological synergy effect.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.2376-2381
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• 2014

The necessity for co-prosperity between large and small businesses has emerged as a top policy priority as economic polarization has been exacerbated since the 2008 global financial crisis. Against this background this paper makes a detailed analysis of differences between SMEs (Small and Medium sized businesses) and large enterprises located in Gyeong-do, in respect of growth. The data set used in the analysis is the 15 year(1996-2010) panel data of IT companies (large enterprises: 80 data and SMEs: 437 data) collected from the KISVALUE database. The estimation results of Pooled OLS indicate that the coefficients representing corporate size are less than 1, which implies that the Gibrat's law, no correlation between the size of a firm and its growth rate, is not supported by the data. In the meantime, the estimated coefficients representing corporate age are negative, which implies that Jovanovic hypothesis, inverse correlation between the age and the growth rate of a firm, is consistent with the data. In short, SMEs, which are generally younger than big enterprises can achieve higher growth rate than the latter ones which are usually believed to be older. In addition, the more export- and innovation-oriented the firm, the higher its growth rates.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.135-148
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• 2004

Rice is not only main food but also key farm income source of Korean farmers. In spite of the above facts, rice productivity was decreased on account of drought in every 2 or 3 years interval owing to the vulnerability of irrigation facilities throughout Korea in the past decades. As an context of the first five year economic development plan, all weather farming programme including 4 big river basin comprehensive development projects and large and medium sized irrigation water development projects were carried out successfully. Therefore the area of irrigated paddy were increased from 58% in 1970 to 76.2% in 1999. In the past decades, the Government had invested heavy financial funds to develop irrigation water but as an factor share analysis, the contribution rates of irrigation water and investment for farmland base development project have not been identified yet in national agricultural economic level. It is very scarce to find out the papers concerned to macro-economic factor share analysis or contribution rates of water and investment cost to rice production value in Korea considering the production function of the quantity of irrigation water and investment cost as independent variables. Accordingly this paper covered and aimed at identifying (1) derivation of rice production function with the time serial data from 1965 to 1999 and the contribution rates of irrigation water and total investment cost for farmland base development project. The analytical model of the contribution rates was adapted the famous Cobb-Douglass production function. According to the model analysis, the contribution rate of irrigation water to rice production in Korea was shown 37.8% which was equivalent to 0.28 of the production elasticity of water. The contribution rate of farmland base development project cost was revealed 22% and direct production cost of rice was contributed 60% in the growth of rice production and farm mechanization costs contributed to 18% of it respectively. The two contribution rates comparing with the direct production cost were small but without irrigation water and farmland base development, application of high-pay off inputs and farm mechanization might be impossible. Considering the food security and to cope with the frequent drought, rice farming and investment for the irrigation water development should be continued even in WTO system.