• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.25-58
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• 2015

This paper compares income and consumption inequalities in Korea and applies the permanent income hypothesis to interpret the linkage between the two inequalities. Income inequality has been increasing since 1990 while consumption inequality had been decreasing until the early 2000s when the two inequalities started to co-move. Permanent income hypothesis explains reasonably well the consumption pattern in the recent period, which reflects the increased access to asset markets by the Korean households. Consequently, the co-movement of income and consumption inequalities in the recent period implies that inequality in permanent income components are fluctuating.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.77-102
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• 2007

This paper compares income and consumption for their relative effectiveness in measuring inequality. Although income inequality has received more attention in the literature, the permanent income hypothesis links consumption to welfare more directly than income. To the extent economic agents smooth their consumptions, consumption inequality is a better indicator for an economy's welfare inequality, and it is especially so when income volatility is high. The empirical analysis in this paper indicates that the income and consumption patterns among the Korean wage/salary worker households are quite consistent with the permanent income hypothesis. Further, it is found that consumption inequality tends to be lower than income inequality, and more importantly, that the two inequalities do not always vary in the same direction. These results call for stronger emphasis on consumption inequality in inequality literature.

• Korean Management Science Review
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.29-41
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• 1994

This paper analyses the stochastic nature of the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH) by specifying the variance-covariance structure of PIH based on Hall and Mishkin[3]. Maximum likelihood is employed to estimate the model by explicitely incorporating the heteroscedastic nature of the data into the likelihood. The data used are individual Korean household consumption and income data. The results indicate that the data are generally consistent with the Permanent Income Hypothesis, and about 11 percent of the total variation in consumption may be attributable to the excess sensitivity of consumption to income.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.51-60
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• 2017

India is the top recipient of workers' remittance flows; recent data indicate that the Remittances/GDP ratio has increased from 2.7% in 2000 to 3.36% in 2015. We apply a consumption behavior model, based on the "permanent income hypothesis", to estimate the consumption augmentation and the stability impact for the period of 1989-2014. The independent variables are: (i) real per capita income (exclusive of remittances) is the measure of "permanent income", (ii) remittances is the measure of "transitory income", and (iii) real interest rate as the indicator of consumers' ability for intertemporal consumption. The economic ramifications are important since current global risk factors could decrease flows in the future. The results indicate the significance of all three variables; there are: (i) evidence of significant consumption augmentation, (ii) consumption responds higher to remittances than to real income, the remittance elasticity is 0.571 and the income elasticity is 0.31, and (iii) evidence of pro-cyclical effect. The VAR model indicates some linkages and causality in the series that result in small response to the shocks. Policies to increase or stabilize remittance flows and to leverage remittances for economic development are important.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.105-140
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• 2004

Korea is entering the class of aging population nations. This paper investigates the extent demographic factors and the aging population affect the saving rate, using an extended life-cycle/permanent-income hypothesis on saving. The results of the tests with Korean household survey data from 1977 to 2002 reveal that real saving rates increase when the duration of lifetime and per household real disposable income rise, and decrease when the growth rate of income and net worth-to-GDP ratio rises. The growth rate of per household real disposable income has negative effects, suggesting that households calculate their life cycle income in a forward looking manner. The elasticities with respect to a change in the lifetime horizon and the growth rate of per household income are 0.58 and -0.03, respectively. A one percent rise in the net worth to GDP ratio reduces the saving rate by 0.3 percent. A one percent rise in per household income increases it by 0.33 percent. The younger-age and the elder-age dependency ratios have insignificant effects on the household saving rate behavior. When Korean life expectancy rises, the private saving rate declines modestly and the government saving rate declines substantially. The economy's real net saving rate declines from 33 percent in 2002 to 30 percent by the year 2030.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.49-60
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• 2018

The purpose of the study is to analyze the housing problems of single-person household in 20-35 age group. Using the survey of Household's Consumption in 2014, we estimated the housing demand function of young single-person household in Seoul. As a result, the coefficient of the permanent income for young single-person household housing was significantly lower than other groups and the housing demand was also lower than others. Since current income isn't come up to permanent income enough, the housing consumption of young single-person household shrinks. It implies the role of the housing financial market is less activated. That is, the difficulty of realization of permanent income and lack of housing finance are the main cause of the imbalance of housing demand of one young person. Therefore, it implies that in order to alleviate the housing problem of the young single-person household, a policy to balance the permanent income with the housing demand is needed.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.123-154
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• 2005

Using Korean household data, this paper examines how consumption of durable goods is determined. Previous studies report that the standard Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH), while being broadly consistent with non-durable goods consumption, provides little explanation for durable goods consumption. In this paper, we consider the (S, s) model as an alternative to the standard PIH. The (S, s) model predicts that, because of fixed adjustment costs, consumers make no adjustment to the durable goods stock until deviation from the optimal level becomes large. When the adjustments are made, the durable goods stock attains the optimal level. In order to test this prediction, we examine the intra-temporal relationship between non-durable goods and durable goods consumption and intertemporal changes in durable goods consumption, using data from the Korean Household Panel Study. The results show that, while the standard PIH is rejected by the data, the (S, s) model is not.

• Journal of Family Resource Management and Policy Review
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.79-100
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• 2004

This study attempted to examine the employment instability on consumer's use of credit as a financing medium. The purpose of this study was 1) to examine the effect of employment related factors on consumers' use of credit; 2) to compare the results between the two different economic situations. A conceptual framework was developed based on the permanent income hypothesis, family stress theory, and the previous empirical studies. Using data on working households ih the 1992 and 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), double-hurdle analyses were conducted. The results suggested that employment related factors that measured employment stability were significantly related to the likelihood of having an outstanding balance on their credit account but were not the influential factors in determining the amount of the outstanding balance. Among other factors, resources factor played the most significant role in determining both the likelihood of having an outstanding balance and the amount of the balance. Although the 1992 and 1998 data represent economic downturn and economic prosperous period, the effects of the factors including employment instability factors were similar between the two periods. This imply that employment instability has increased even in the economic prosperous period. From the findings, several implications for policy makers, credit industry, and financial educators were suggested.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.41-53
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• 1986

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. One is to investigate the determinants of the demand supply of labor, and another is to project long-term demand and supply of labor. The paper consists of three parts. In the first part, theoretical models and important hypotheses are discussed: for the case of a labor supply model, issues regarding discouraged worker model, permanent wage hypothesis, and relative wage hypothesis are examined and for the case of a demand model, issues regarding estimating an employment demand equation within the framework of an inverted short-run produc- tion function are inspected. Particularly, a theoretical justification for introducing a demographic cohort variable in a labor supply equation is also investigated. In the second part, empirical results of the estimated supply and demand equations are analyzed. Supply equations are specified differently between primary and secondary labor force. That is, for the case of primary labor force groups including males aged 25 and over, attempts are made to explain the variations in participation behavior within the framework of a neo-classical economics oriented permanent wage hypothesis. On the other hand, for the case of females and young male labor force, variations in participation rates are explained in terms of a relative wage hypothesis. In other words, the participation behavior of primary labor force is related to short-rum business fluctuations, while that of secondary labor force is associated with intermediate swings of business cycles and demographic changes in the age structure of population. Some major findings arc summarized as follows. (1) For the case of males aged 14~19 and 2O~24 groups and females aged 14∼19, the effect of schhool enrollment rate is dominant and thus it plays a key role in explaining the recent declining trend of participation rates of these groups. (2) Except for females aged 20∼24, a demographic cohort variable, which captures the impact of changes in the age structure on participation behavior, turns out to show positive and significant coefficients for secondary labor force groups. (3) A cyclical variable produce significant coefficients for prime-age males and females reflecting that as compared to other groups the labor supply behavior of these groups is more closely related to short-run cyclical variations (4) The wage variable, which represents a labor-leisure trade-off turns out to yield significant coefficients only for older age groups (6O and over) for both males and females. This result reveals that unlike the experiences of other higer-income nations, the participation decision of the labor force of our nation is not highly sensitive with respect to wage changes. (5)The estimated result of the employment demand equation displays that given that the level of GNP remains constant the ability of the economy to absord labor force has been declining;that is, the elasticity of GNP with respect to labor absorption decreasre over time. In the third part, the results of long-term projections (for the period of 1986 and 1995) for age-sex specific participation rates are discussed. The participation rate of total males is anticipated to increase slightly, which is contrary to the recent trend of declining participation rates of this group. For the groups aged 25 and below, the participation rates are forecast to decline although the magnitude of decrease is likely to shrink. On the other hand, the participation rate of prime- age males (25 to 59 years old) is predicted to increase slightly during 1985 and 1990. For the case of females, except for 20∼24 and 25∼34 age groups, the participation rates are projected to decrease: the participation rates of 25∼34 age group is likely to remain at its current level, while the participation rate of 20∼24 age group is expected to increase considerably in the future (specifi- cally, from 55% in 1985 to 61% in 1990 and to 69% in 1995). In conclusion, while the number of an excess supply of labor will increase in absolute magnitude, its size as a ratio of total labor force is not likely to increase. However, the age composition of labor force is predicted to change; that is, the proportion of prime-age male and female labor force is projected to increase.

• Korean Journal of Social Welfare
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.147-174
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• 2007

This study examines how path dependency of working poor labor market segmented from the primary and the secondary labor market affects employment and quality of employment of working poor. It Further examines how path dependency makes working poor to remain in the labor market and makes it difficult for them to escape from a vicious poverty cycle. Data is based on the $3{\sim}7th$ Korea Labor and Income Panel Study(KLIPS). Markov's transition probability and discrete-time hazard analysis are used for analysis. This study finds that Korea labor market is divided into three parts; the primary labor market, the secondary labor market and the working poor labor market. The proportion of employed poor has been reduced, but the proportion of non economically-active working poor has been increased and has become the main group among the working poor. This shows that labor demand of working poor is fundamentally lacking and there are structural barriers that block working poor's employment itself. The regression analysis shows that the longer working poor labor market participation is, the lower poverty-exit rate. This is an evidence of vicious poverty cycle that the poor have little chance to exit from working poor labor market, once they step into it. Therefore, the longer their participation in poor labor market, the more likely they would move only within the closed working poor labor market. Consequently, it is necessary to fundamentally reform labor market structure and to alleviate negative perception and discrimination about the poor labor while activating labor demand.