Impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on single-person households in South Korea

Haeil Jung, Jun Hyung Kim and Gihyeon Hong

Journal of Asian Economics, 2023, vol. 84, issue C

Abstract: Using nationally representative income and expenditure data from South Korea, we show that single-person households suffered a much greater decrease in household income and expenditure compared to multi-persons households during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Negative effects on income were largest for the single-person households in ages 50—64, mostly driven by decreases in earned income rather than business income. There was no corresponding decrease in consumption expenditures, however, other than on transportation expenditure for young men. Notably, there were significant decreases in non-consumption expenditures that are related to formal and informal consumption-smoothing mechanisms, such as spending on insurances, pensions, and household transfers. Our findings highlight the disproportionately negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the middle-aged single-person households. With reduced spending on consumption-smoothing mechanisms, this group is likely to be even more vulnerable to negative income shocks in the future.

Keywords: COVID-19; Single-person households; Income; Consumption; Informal insurance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 I3 J1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:asieco:v:84:y:2023:i:c:s1049007822001130

DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2022.101557

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