• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.11
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• pp.529-540
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• 2020

The objective of this research paper is to study the simultaneous relationship between fiscal decentralization, corruption, and income inequality among Vietnamese provinces. We use a balanced panel data set of 63 provinces/cities in Vietnam in the period from 2011 to 2018. The study used 3SLS-GMM (Three Stage Least Squares - Generalized Method of Moments estimator) and GMM-HAC (Generalized Method of Moments - Heteroskedastic and Autocorrelation Consistent estimator). Empirical evidence shows a strong simultaneous relationship: increased corruption will increase regional income disparities, income inequality, and increase fiscal decentralization. In addition, the results also suggest that an increase in per-capita income will reduce the level of corruption, or better control corruption of each province. The degree of increase in income inequality, which reduces fiscal decentralization, is the same for trade liberalization. All demonstrate that there is a simultaneous relationship between fiscal decentralization, corruption, and income inequality. In a region of high public governance quality, fiscal decentralization positively effects its economic growth. This issue will indirectly increase income inequality between provinces within a country. Our findings imply that a country's fiscal decentralization strategy should be linked to improving corruption control and local governance effectiveness, indirectly improving income inequality between localities or regions.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.36-57
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• 2010

The degree of income inequality deepened by health care expenditure was useful in assessing the health security level. This exploratory study was conducted to provide a basic evidence to prove the necessity of reinforcement the benefit coverage of South Korea's health security systems. Data from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey of Korea and Luxembourg Income Study were used. Income inequality indices before and after deduction of health care expenditure were computed, and the degree of the increase in the indices was compared among 13 countries. The degree of decrease against the effect of income inequality reduction policies by health care expenditure was determined. The relationships between the national characteristics and the increase in income inequality were examined. In South Korea, all income inequality indices increased after deducting health care expenditure, but the difference was not high compared to the mean of 13 countries. However, the degree of decrease against the effect of income inequality reduction policies by health care expenditure was high, compared to the mean of 13 countries. The proportion of public sector spending on health care proved to be statistically significant with the increase of income inequality indices (p<0.05). In the context of the continuous increase in health care expenditure, if benefit coverage of health security systems is not reinforced, income inequality will all the more increase due to health care expenditure. In the establishment of the policies for reinforcement of the benefit coverage, income inequality after deduction of health care expenditure should be continuously monitored.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.635-641
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• 2021

This article analyzes the factors affecting income inequality in Vietnam, with data from 63 provinces and cities collected from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey of the General Statistics Office of Vietnam from 2010 to 2018. The article will firstly build a research model to identify factors affecting income inequality. Then, it uses the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) method to evaluate the effect of factors on income inequality in Vietnam. The empirical estimate result shows that, in the period from 2010 to 2018, the factors such as the proportion of the working employees, income per capita, and inflation have positive effects on the Gini coefficient. That is, when these factors increase, there will be negative effects on improving income inequality in Vietnam. Conversely, when the factors such as the proportion of the literate adults, the proportion of the urban population, and population density increase they will have a positive impact on improving income inequality in Vietnam during this period. The estimated coefficients satisfied the sign expectation except the proportion of the literate adults. It means that, in Vietnam, the increase and more equilibrium in educational attainment balance the distribution of income and bring an improvement in income inequality.

• Journal of Wellbeing Management and Applied Psychology
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.1-10
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• 2023

Purpose: As an important provision to protect the rights and interests of low-income groups, it is worth studying whether the minimum wage policy can improve the quality of life for people. Research design, data and methodology: Using data from the 2015 and 2017 China General Social Survey (CGSS), this paper employs the logit model to estimate the probability of an individual's annual income being higher than the per capita disposable income of their province. It also utilizes the DID model to analyze the impact of minimum wage increases on individuals' annual incomes. Results: The analysis reveals that an overall increase in the minimum wage raises the probability of an individual's annual income exceeding the per capita disposable income by 3%. Among them, the probability increased by 2.2% for males and by 3.2% for females. Furthermore, the impact of the minimum wage on annual income varies depending on the individual's income level. Notably, the most positive and significant impact is observed for individuals whose income level is close to the minimum wage standard. Conclusions: This provides evidence that the increase in the minimum wage has effectively improved the quality of life for the population.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.619-627
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• 2022

In Korea, apples and pears are among the most important agricultural products to farmers who seek to earn money as income. Generally, farmers make decisions at various stages to maximize their income but they do not always know exactly which option will be the best one. Many previous studies were conducted to solve this problem by predicting farmers' income structure, but researchers are still exploring better approaches. Currently, machine learning technology is gaining attention as one of the new approaches for farmers' income prediction. The machine learning technique is a methodology using an algorithm that can learn independently through data. As the level of computer science develops, the performance of machine learning techniques is also improving. The purpose of this study is to predict the income structure of apples and pears using the automatic machine learning solution H2O.AI and to present some implications for apple and pear farmers. The automatic machine learning solution H2O.AI can save time and effort compared to the conventional machine learning techniques such as scikit-learn, because it works automatically to find the best solution. As a result of this research, the following findings are obtained. First, apple farmers should increase their gross income to maximize their income, instead of reducing the cost of growing apples. In particular, apple farmers mainly have to increase production in order to obtain more gross income. As a second-best option, apple farmers should decrease labor and other costs. Second, pear farmers also should increase their gross income to maximize their income but they have to increase the price of pears rather than increasing the production of pears. As a second-best option, pear farmers can decrease labor and other costs.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.10
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• pp.571-579
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• 2020

This paper examines how human capital and other economic variables, such as private investment, economic growth, government investment, inflation, and unemployment influence inequality in Indonesia's provinces. We apply panel data model with fixed effect estimation for the data of 34 provinces from the period 2013 to 2019. We develop a new index for human capital using the education index approach. The results show that human capital has a negative and significant effect on income inequality. An increase in human capital is related to an increase in knowledge and competence due to the longer average school year and expectations of the school year. Human capital has increased the possibility of a person being accepted into the job market and earning a higher income; hence, it lowers income inequality. We also find that inflation leads to a higher gap of income distribution. A further implication of this situation is that the rise in inflation causes an increase in low-income people, and as a consequence, makes their lives worse off. This paper will be beneficial for policy-makers for whom human capital, which is measured using an education index, is an important factor that significantly affects income inequality, in addition to other economic factors.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.41-55
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• 2021

Purpose - This paper empirically investigates the relationship between the Economic Complexity Index (ECI) and the level of development. Moreover, this research attempts to discover the determinants of ECI in the globalization wave. Design/methodology - Our empirical model considers the relationship between ECI and the level of development in middle- and high-income economies from 1995 to 2010 by using systemic qualitative analysis, including OLS, fixed-effects, and system GMM. Next, this research used OLS regression to find the determinants of ECI. In particular, we compared the effects of different factors on ECI in the different development stages. Findings - Our main findings can be summarized as follows: 1. If the ECI increases by 1, it could lead to an increase of about 30% in the level of development in middle- and high-income economies. 2. Human capital plays an important role in the development of and increase in ECI. 3. GVC participation and outflow FDI enhance an increase in ECI, in particular in middle-income economies. 4. The development of manufacturing industries is helpful to increase ECI; however, middle-income economies should pay more attention to their comparative advantage industries. 5. R&D has positive effects on the ECI. Originality/value - To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that uses systemic qualitative analysis to investigate the relationship between ECI and the level of development. The paper provides suggestions for policy makers to increase ECI under the current wave of globalization, in particular in middle-income economies.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.47 no.10
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• pp.109-122
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• 2009

This study examined the effects of household head’s worker status change type on household income and household head’s income using a total combined sample of 2,578 households from Korea surveyed in 1998 and 2002 KLIPS(Korean Labor and Income Panel Study). Binary logit regression results showed that household incomes were likely to decrease significantly when household head’s changed worker status from a regular employee, a temporary employee or a daily worker, or an employer or a self-employed to no job status, or from a regular employee to a temporary employee or a daily worker, an employer or a self-employed, or from an employer or a self-employed to a regular employee compared to a regular employee status maintenance. In contrast, household head’s incomes were likely to increase significantly when household head’s changed worker status from a temporary to a regular employee compared to a regular employee status maintenance. Women household heads were significantly associated with the likelihood of the decrease of household head’s income compared to men household heads. Household heads beyond their forties were significantly associated with the likelihood of the decrease of household head’s income compared to household heads in their thirties age-group counterparts. Household heads with education level beyond high school graduation were significantly associated with the likelihood of the increase of household head’s income compared to household heads with the education level of high school graduation. This study shows that a more comprehesive labor policy is needed for achieving sustainable household income inflow.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.207-235
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• 2020

Acknowledging that individuals dislike having low relative income renders trade less attractive when seen as a technology that integrates two economies by merging separate social spheres into one. We define a "trembling trade" as a situation in which gains from trade are less than losses in relative income, with the result that global social welfare is reduced. We show that a "trembling trade" can arise even when trade is more gainful in four ways: through trade the absolute income of everyone increases, the income gap in both economies is reduced, as is the income gap between the trading economies. However, trade brings populations, economies, or markets that were not previously connected closer together in social space. As a consequence, separate social spheres merge, and people's social space and their comparators are altered. Assuming that people like high (absolute) income and dislike low relative income, the aggregate increase in unhappiness caused by the trade-induced escalation in relative deprivation can result in a negative overall impact of trade on (utilitarian-measured) social welfare, if the absolute income gains are not large enough to mitigate the relative income losses.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.141-190
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• 2004

Income inequality in Korea has increased after the economic crisis, and the main reason for the widening of income distribution is due to the increase of the unemployed when analyzed using the Urban Household Report(UHR). However, income inequality has not decreased although the rate of unemployment decreased after 2000. Further data bases for income-related statistics are necessary to examine the exact causes of changing income inequality as a whole since the UHR covers only statistics on urban employees' wage and salary in Korea.