RISING OR FALLING INEQUALITY IN KOREA? POPULATION AGING AND GENERATIONAL TRENDS

Sung-Jin Kang () and Robert Rudolf
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Sung-Jin Kang: Department of Economics, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
Robert Rudolf: #x2020;Division of International Studies, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 136-701, South Korea

The Singapore Economic Review (SER), 2016, vol. 61, issue 05, 1-26

Abstract: Using 30 years of the South Korean household income and expenditure surveys (HIES) from 1982 to 2011, this paper argues that Korea experienced significantly differing generational trends in consumption and income inequality when taking demographic changes related to population aging into account. While income inequality stagnated or slightly rose over the past two generations, consumption inequality in fact declined. These antagonistic trends are likely due to better access of poorer households to financial markets as well as the gradual expansion of the welfare state. In the absence of appropriate policies, rapid population aging will substantially increase overall inequality in the future.

Keywords: Consumption inequality; income inequality; cohort analysis; population aging; generational trends (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1142/S0217590815500897

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