Sociological Understandings of Elderly Suicide and Its Primary Prevention (노인자살의 이해와 일차적 예방)
-
- Korea journal of population studies
- /
- v.23 no.2
- /
- pp.167-187
- /
- 2000
The rates and numbers of elderly suicide in Korea have been increased during 1985-1998. This indicates the seriousness of the problems which the elderly are faced with. So many late-life problems may push older people across the edges. Those in unbearable situations may call out fur helps, they may try to cope with various ways, or they may commit suicides. Because it is widely believed that suicide among the elderly can be understood as a personal solution or alternative to late-life problems in old age, the elderly\`s suicides seem to be an appropriate indicator in estimating seriousness of late-life problems. A comparison of the history of suicide research with other populations shows that the several late-life problems have been found with placing an individual elder at risks for increasing suicidal behaviors Research has identified such problems as financial insecurity, retirement, loss of social roles, physical illness, lack of social supports, and loneliness as the problems that increase the incidence of suicidal behavior. Though it is difficult far us to explain and understand the phenomenon of the elderly\`s suicide because of its complexity, we need to ascertain problems and social conditions behind suicides and also to prepare for some appropriate policy-tasks in light of social welfare for the aged, through examining the phenomenon. For explaining the elderly\`s suicide, the theoretical orientations are based on sociological perspectives in the paper. From the standpoints of social integration theory and exchange theory, this study is to examine the relationship between late-life problems and suicide. These two may have been fruitfully employed in conjunction with each other. Finally, this study would identify urgent late-life problems related with the elderly\`s suicide and suggest the relevant policies for Korean elders. Sometime in the near future, the government should be required to provide social welfare programs for the elderly, particularly for those at risk for increasing suicidal behaviors.
Veterinary drugs have been used to prevent livestock diseases for many years. In spite of having advantages, sometimes indiscriminate application, overdose and abuse may cause risk for human. Therefore, management and risk assessment of veterinary drugs become essential to ensure food safety. So the National Veterinary Research & Quarantine Service (NVRQS) impose on registration for use of veterinary drugs also Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) fixed the maximum residue limits (MRLs) for veterinary drugs in food. Basically, KFDA set MRLs based on the veterinary drugs residual data. Moreover, KFDA estimates the theoretical maximum daily intake (TMDI) with food consumption data and population mean body weight. Recently, 116 veterinary drug MRLs including banned veterinary drugs have been established and other 32 veterinary drugs MRLs will be established within 2009. In 2010, MRLs among antibiotics and synthetic antibacterial agents in livestock fishery products (including milk and eggs) and honey (including royal jelly and propolis) which have not been set in Korea Food Code and Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) will be regulated as uniform limit (0.03 mg/kg). In future, veterinary drugs will be controlled strictly to strengthen public health by improving analytical method.
We analyze macroeconomic consequences of pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) public pension system with a simple overlapping generations model. Contrary to large body of existing literatures offering quantitative results based on simulation study, we take another route by adopting a highly simplified framework in search of qualitatively tractable analytical results. The main contribution of our results lies in providing a sound theoretical foundation that can be utilized in interpreting various quantitative results offered by simulation studies of large scale general equilibrium models. We present a simple overlapping generations model with a defined benefit(DB) PAYGO public pension system as a benchmark case and derive an analytical equilibrium solution utilizing graphical illustration. We also discuss the modifications of the benchmark model required to encompass a defined contribution(DC) public pension system into the basic framework. Comparative statics analysis provides three important implications; First, introduction and expansion of the PAYGO public pension, DB or DC, result in lower level of capital accumulation and higher expected rate of return on the risky asset. Second, it is shown that the progress of population aging is accompanied by lower capital stock due to decrease in both demand and supply of risky asset. Moreover, risk premium for risky asset increases(decreases) as the speed of population aging accelerates(decelerates) so that the possibility of so-called "the great meltdown" of asset market cannot be excluded although the odds are not high. Third, it is most likely that the switch from DB PAYGO to DC PAYGO would result in lower capital stock and higher expected return on the risky asset mainly due to the fact that the young generation regards DC PAYGO pension as another risky asset competing against the risky asset traded in the market. This theoretical prediction coincides with one of the firmly established propositions in empirical literature that the currently dominant form of public pension system has the tendency to crowd out private capital accumulation.
Franchising is one of the fastest growing types of business. It is already popular and well-known in the U.S., and has been growing in many other countries including Korea. Furthermore, many Korean franchising companies have expanded their business overseas actively. According to the data by the Ministry of Industry and Resource, 82 companies out of a sample of 500 franchising companies are already operating in many foreign countries and 48% of them have started their foreign business since 2006. This clearly indicates the fast growing current trend of foreign operation by Korean franchising companies. In spite of the fast growing trend of foreign expansion in the industry, academic research on internationalization of franchising companies is extremely difficult to find. Accordingly, academic research on the issue is necessary and urgent in Korea. Among the various research questions on internationalization of franchising business, this study intends to investigate the difference in organizational factors between the franchising companies doing foreign operation and those doing business only domestically. More specifically, this research has the following purposes. First, considering the lack of theoretical basis of previous studies, resource-based theory and agency theory are employed as the theoretical bases. Second, this study explains the difference in internationalization based on organizational factors such as company size, history and growth rate. Third, the five hypotheses regarding the difference in organizational factors are presented and tested empirically, which is the first attempt in the area of this topic. Finally, the study attempts to clarify the conflicting implications among theories regarding some organizational factos such as growth rate. As the theoretical background, resource-based theory and agency theory are discussed. According to resource-based theory, a firm can grow continuously when it has competence and resource, and also the ability to develop them. The competence and resource can include capital, human resource, management skill, market information, ability to manage risk, etc. Meanwhile, agency theory views the relationship between franchisor and franchisee as an agency relationship. In agency theory, bonding capability and monitoring capability are the two key factors which promote internationalization of franchising companies. Based on the two theories, a conceptual model is designed. The model consists of two groups of variables. One is organizational factors including size, history, growth rate, price bonding and geographic dispersion. The other is whether a franchising company is operating overseas or not. We developed the following five research hypotheses basically describing the relationship between organizational factors and internationalization of franchising companies. H1: The size of franchising companies operating overseas is larger than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H2: The history of franchising companies operating overseas is longer than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H3: The growth rate of franchising companies operating overseas is higher than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H4: The price bonding of franchising companies operating overseas is higher than that of franchising companies operating domestically. H5: The geographic dispersion of franchising companies operating overseas is wider than that of franchising companies operating domestically. Data for the analyses are obtained from 2005 Korea Franchise Survey data co-generated by Ministry of Industry and Resource, GS1 Korea, and Korea Franchise Association. Out of 2,804 population companies, 2,489 companies are excluded for various reasons and 315 companies are selected as the final sample. Prior to hypotheses tests, validity and reliability of the measures of size, history, growth rate and price bonding are examined for further analyses. Geographic dispersion is not validated since it is measured using nominal data. A series of independent sample T-tests is used to find out whether there exists any significant difference between the companies internationalized and those operating only domestically for each organizational factor. Among the five factors, size and geographic dispersion show significant difference, growth rate and price bonding do not reveal any difference and, finally, history factor shows conflicting results in the difference depending on how to measure it.