Does poverty alleviation help enhance social investment? The case of South Korea

ABSTRACT

Using the 2015 Korean Welfare Panel Study data and a regression discontinuity design, this study examines the effects of the National Basic Livelihood Security System (NBLSS) participation on social investment through evaluating its impact on changes in family consumption patterns. We find that NBLSS participation was associated with increased educational expenditures. The effects were larger for households with an elementary or junior-high school student than those with a high school or college student. We also find that NBLSS participation reduced medical expenditures for households with seniors, members with chronic diseases, and members with a physical disability, most likely due to the in-kind healthcare services.

KEYWORDS:

• Poverty alleviation
• family expenditures
• social investment
• regression discontinuity
• South Korea

Acknowledgments

We thank Douglas Almond, Irwin Garfinkel, Neeraj Kaushal, the editor, and anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Ethical Review

There is no potential conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Columbia University School of Social Work under the research projects titled Welfare Participation and Family Consumption in South Korea (2016–2017) and Welfare Participation and Family Well-Being in South Korea (Summer 2019).

Notes on contributors

Sam Han

Sam Han is a Ph.D. candidate at Columbia University School of Social Work, with a concentration in Social Policy and Policy Analysis. Her current research focuses on anti-poverty policies and programs as well as settlement support policies and programs that support refugee families. Her dissertation examines the economic adjustment of North Korean defectors in South Korea.

Qin Gao

Qin Gao is a professor at Columbia University School of Social Work and the Founding Director of Columbia University’s China Center for Social Policy. Dr. Gao’s research focuses on the Chinese welfare state in transition; welfare, work, and poverty in China; social protection for rural-to-urban migrants in China and Asian American immigrants; and cross-national comparative social policies and programs.