• Journal of Families and Better Life
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.305-316
• /
• 2009

The purpose of this study was to investigate how children from low-income families perceived their family strength, ego-resilience and school adjustment. The relative magnitude of effects of family strength, ego-resilience and school adjustment were compared. Data were collected from 217 children in grade 4 through 6 who were attending local child welfare centers located in Seoul, Korea. The key research findings were as follows. Ego-resilience and perceived family strength were related to school adjustment among children in poverty. The relatively greater effect of ego-resilience implied that programs for children in poverty need to focus on developing interpersonal relationship skills or coping strategies designed to enable children from disadvantaged environments to deal with stressful events and to promote their ego-resilience. Additionally, the recovery or enhancement of family strength and ego-resilience will be effective at protecting and solving various adaptive problems that children from low-income families may experience at school.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.277-288
• /
• 1996

Food away from home consumption pattern difference among 20 different social strata has been observed in order to make judgement how much food away from home expenditure should be included in the 2 tiered poverty line. It was found that it was reasonable to include food away from home expenditure in the minimum living cost. And as social class rose expenditure amount and percentage of consumption compared to total food expenditure increased and income elasticity and margial propensity decreased. Percentage of consumption compared to total expenditure increased up to middle class however from 14/20 and up strata decreased as social strata rose. For 4 members city wage earner family suggested monthly poverty line is 16, 977 and suggested monthly relative poverty line is 60, 651.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.7 no.12
• /
• pp.1205-1214
• /
• 2020

The poverty level in Buru Regency is still high, despite the relatively stable economic growth. For this reason, the purpose of this study was to (1) Identify the leading commodity in each district in Buru Regency; (2) Analyze the effect of road infrastructure and leading commodities on poverty. The findings show that the most sparsely populated district is Fena Leisela, with mangoes as the leading commodity. Pineapple, langsat, apple rose, cabbages, cashews, coffee, cashew, melon, and watermelon are the leading products in Air Buaya, Batabual, Waplau, Lolong Guba, Lilialy, Waelata, Namlea, Kaiely Bay, and Waeapo, respectively. Additionally, the results also indicate that road infrastructure and leading commodities have a significant effect on poverty alleviation in Buru Regency. It means that improving infrastructure and increasing leading commodities production reduce poverty in the region. Good road infrastructure can promote connectivity between regions so that it can accelerate and expand economic development. The provision of infrastructure that encourages connectivity will reduce transportation costs and logistics costs to increase product competitiveness and accelerate the economic movement. When the road infrastructure in Buru Regency improves and new roads are built, it can improve transportation access, it will reduce the living cost for the poor and increase income, and open up opportunities for the poor to benefit from economic growth.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.71-130
• /
• 2008

Using data from the Korean Labor & Income Panel Study (KLIPS), this study investigates private income transfers in Korea, where adult children have undertaken the most responsibility of supporting their elderly parents without well-established social safety net for the elderly. According to the KLIPS data, three out of five households provided some type of support for their aged parents and two out of five households of the elderly received financial support from their adult children on a regular base. However, the private income transfers in Korea are not enough to alleviate the impact of the fall in the earned income of those who retired and are approaching an age of needing financial assistance from external source. The monthly income of those at least the age of 75, even with the earning of their spouses, is below the staggering amount of 450,000 won, which indicates that the elderly in Korea are at high risk of poverty. In order to analyze microeconomic factors affecting the private income transfers to the elderly parents, the following three samples extracted from the KLIPS data are used: a sample of respondents of age 50 or older with detailed information on their financial status; a five-year household panel sample in which their unobserved family-specific and time-invariant characteristics can be controlled by the fixed-effects model; and a sample of the younger split-off household in which characteristics of both the elderly household and their adult children household can be controlled simultaneously. The results of estimating private income transfer models using these samples can be summarized as follows. First, the dominant motive lies on the children-to-parent altruistic relationship. Additionally, another is based on exchange motive, which is paid to the elderly parents who take care of their grandchildren. Second, the amount of private income transfers has negative correlation with the income of the elderly parents, while being positively correlated with the income of the adult children. However, its income elasticity is not that high. Third, the amount of private income transfers shows a pattern of reaching the highest level when the elderly parents are in the age of 75 years old, following a decreasing pattern thereafter. Fourth, public assistance, such as the National Basic Livelihood Security benefit, appears to crowd out private transfers. Private transfers have fared better than public transfers in alleviating elderly poverty, but the role of public transfers has been increasing rapidly since the welfare expansion after the financial crisis in the late 1990s, so that one of four elderly people depends on public transfers as their main income source in 2003. As of the same year, however, there existed and occupied 12% of the elderly households those who seemed eligible for the National Basic Livelihood benefit but did not receive any public assistance. To remove elderly poverty, government may need to improve welfare delivery system as well as to increase welfare budget for the poor. In the face of persistent elderly poverty and increasing demand for public support for the elderly, which will lead to increasing government debt, welfare policy needs targeting toward the neediest rather than expanding universal benefits that have less effect of income redistribution and heavier cost. Identifying every disadvantaged elderly in dire need for economic support and providing them with the basic livelihood security would be the most important and imminent responsibility that we all should assume to prepare for the growing aged population, and this also should accompany measures to utilize the elderly workforce with enough capability and strong will to work.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.63 no.1
• /
• pp.85-111
• /
• 2011

This study has the purpose to measure the multidimensional poverty in Korea by the counting approach which was theorized by Alkire and Foster to overcome problems of unidimensional approach, union method and intersection method for the identification of the multidimensional poor. By the counting approach applying to Welfare Panel in Korea during 2006-2008, the head-count ratio of the multidimensional poverty was measured. When 3 dimensions are applied as a dimension poverty line, the multidimensional poverty rate was 20% in 2008. It was due to broad deprivations in assets, social securities, income and health. Vulnerable classes such as single parent families, low-education level group, the aged, economically non-active population were among the severe poverty rates, which were reaching around 50%. The analysis reveals the possible alternative to change the present public assistance program to the robust approach of multidimensional poverty measurement, the counting approach. Social policies to reduce poverty in Korea would gain expected positive outcome with the various approaches based on the concepts of multidimensional poverty.

• KIEAE Journal
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.39-45
• /
• 2016

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the energy saving and cost benefit analysis of the Low-income Energy Efficiency Treatment Program supported by KOREF(Korea Energy Foundation). This program was launched in 2007 and performs building energy retrofit for the low-income and energy poverty houses. Method: Energy simulation and cost benefit analysis were accomplished for the low-income detached houses. The structure of detached house was a lot og block structure, wood frame (single glass) and concrete roof. Baseline model of the low-income detached houses was proposed. Result: Annual heating energy consumptions were decreased by about 3.2% with the window system replacement(Case 1), 9.3% with reinforcement of insulation(Case2), and 12.5% with both(Case 3) compared to those of baseline model. The construction cost will be recouped within 5 years for the Case 1, 3 years for the Case 2, and 3 years for the Case 3. Case 3 was the most cost beneficient construction method in the analyzed cases in this study.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
• /
• v.44 no.8
• /
• pp.79-87
• /
• 2006

The purpose of this study was to estimate the minimum monthly food cost for the low income population. The food consumption data of 9,311 individuals from the 2001 Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey was used. The monthly food cost was calculated using the Consumer Food Price Database for the year 2001 provided by the Public Health Nutrition Laboratory, Seoul National University. The low income population (n = 1,310) was characterized as older age, lower income, smaller family size, lower education level, and lower energy intake as compared with the total population (n = 8,001). The estimated food cost showed that men in the low income population needed 15% more money for purchasing food to maintain the energy intake level at the average energy intake level of men in the total population. It was also estimated that women in the low income population needed 9% more money for purchasing food to maintain the energy intake level at the average energy intake level of women in the total population. There were differences in monthly food costs depending on the sex and age, and family size. The results of this study could be used as basic information to establish minimum food cost for the low income population in Korea.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
• /
• v.22 no.1
• /
• pp.169-179
• /
• 2004

This study investigated female-head's employment and household economic status of the single-mother households compared to those in the two-parent households using the data from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study. Major findings are: first, female-heads showed lower educational attainment, lower labor force participation rate, lower occupational status, and lower wage rates than male-heads; second, the level of household income was as 1.3 times as the Minimum Living Cost and the level of household expenditure was close to the Minimum Living Cost; third, one-thirds of single-mother households were in poverty. Based on the results, the implications to public policy were suggested.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.67-88
• /
• 1986

This study attempts to explain the income and consumption problems of urban low-income consumers and to explore factors of their poverty. For the purpose of this study, interviews were conducted with 124 low-income home managers. All the subjects live in Seoul and Inchon. The major findings are: First, low-income families seriously suffer from low income and small property. And the degree of economic hardship is the most serious with wife-working families whose husbands have no job or are dead. Second, low-income consumers have low budgeting and purchasing skill. Third, low-income consumers have 'doing' orientation but have fatalistic value orientation. This study suggests that it is necessary to develop an integrative measurement of economic hardship. It also suggests that low level of low-income consumer's skill can be well explained in terms of man-nature value orientation.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
• /
• v.60 no.4
• /
• pp.31-53
• /
• 2008

This study intends to verify the poverty characteristics of the rural elderly households so as to provide more specific data for the intervention of social welfare in the improvement of quality of life of the rural elderly. According to my study of the absolute poverty ratio, the poverty gap, the relative poverty ratio, the subjective poverty ratio, the subjective economic level and the life satisfaction level of the rural elderly households in comparison with those of the other groups, the conclusion is as follows: First, the total living cost of the rural elderly households is rather low with the food cost taking about 30% of the total living cost. Second, in terms of the poverty ratio based on socio-demographic characteristics, higher poverty ratio show among women, older people and households of fewer members. Third, 82.2% of the rural elderly households living with an income below the minimum living cost is found around the poverty line. Fourth, the rural elderly households show a comparatively higher poverty ratio than the other groups in the absolute and relative poverty, but lower economic strain than other groups in the subjective poverty ratio and life satisfaction level. In short, the rural elderly households' poverty level is generally high and therefore need ways of active economic supports, while a political approach to the subjective needs of the regional and intergenerational groups is also required.