Influence of social pension on well‐being and health of the rural elderly: the case of South Korea

Jiyeon An and Taehyun Ahn

Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, 2024, vol. 38, issue 1, 57-74

Abstract: This study examines whether a social pension for the elderly population affects the well‐being and health of older adults in rural areas and whether pensions are more effective in rural areas than in urban areas. Using data from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing, we exploit a difference‐in‐difference specification that compares changes in well‐being and health in rural areas for those who are 65 or older relative to the younger population before and after a pension reform. We also consider a triple‐difference specification to investigate the rural–urban difference. The results reveal that the expansion of the social pension significantly improved cognitive function and alleviated depressive symptoms among the rural elderly, but it had little impact on well‐being or other health measures such as subjective health status. We also find that this impact has been more effective in rural than in urban areas. Our findings suggest that social pensions can be crucial in enhancing cognitive functioning and mental health for rural elderly individuals and emphasise the effectiveness of pensions for rural elderly populations.

Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/apel.12402

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:apacel:v:38:y:2024:i:1:p:57-74

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://ordering.onl ... 7-8411&ref=1467-8411

Access Statistics for this article

Asian-Pacific Economic Literature is currently edited by Yixiao Zhou

More articles in Asian-Pacific Economic Literature from The Crawford School, The Australian National University
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().