BOOK PROJECT
| A Feasible Basic Income Plan for South Korea: To Promote Freedom, Equality, and Sustainable Efficiency (with Nam Hoon Kang and Seungju Lee) We are outlining the normative and practical benefits of a basic income approach to social welfare provision; But we are going to focus in on the case of Korea as an example of a place where there has been an actual discussion of the issue To advance an actual plan, we need to address the general characteristics of the Korean welfare system By looking at the effects of the introduction of our proposal onto that system, we can address some of the issues of the effects of a basic income system. Table of Contents Ch. 1. The Case for Universal Basic Income Ch. 2. The Korean Welfare State at a Crossroads Ch. 3. Common wealth dividend basic income Ch. 4. NIT-type basic income Ch. 5. Universal EITC Ch. 6. Expected effects Ch. 7. Financial feasibility Ch. 8. Political feasibility Ch. 9. Conclusion Drafts of major chapters were discussed at the Basic Income Earth Network(BIEN)’s Congress in Seoul in August, 2023. He and his co-authors plan to complete the manuscript of the book by spring 2024. His published articles on basic income include “Why Do We Need a Universal Basic Income? Directions for Social Security Reform Centered on the Introduction of a UBI, 2020, Journal of Korean Social Trend and Perspective (동향과 전망 110: 60-113), “An Examination of Financial Feasibility and Redistributive Effect of Universal Basic Income,” 2018, Korea Social Policy Review(한국사회정책 25, 3: 3-35). |
Research on Public Pension Reform
Jong-sung You has been studying the problems of public pension system in Korea and reforms needed to reduce elderly poverty and to secure financial sustainability of the system. His published articles on pension reform include
“Pension Reform in the Era of a 100-Year Life: Achieving Fiscal Sustainability and Ensuring Income Security in Retirement,” 2023, Journal of Korean Social Trend and Perspective(동향과전망 119: 124-172), “Directions for Reform of the Basic Pension, Considering the Relations with the A-Benefit of the National Pension,” 2022, Pension Forum(연금포럼, vol. 88, 39-54), “The trilemma of the National Pension scheme: Searching for a solution,” 2022, Social Security Research(사회보장연구 38, 3: 355-391), “The Effects of Public Pensions and Basic Pension on Income Inequality in Old Age,” 2022, Journal of Pension Study(연금연구 12, 1: 21-50).
GROUP PROJECTS
Korea Inequality Research Lab (KIRL)
Launched in December 2018, with a generous five-year grant (December 2018-December 2023) from the Korean Studies Promotion Service (KSPS) at the Academy of Korean Studies, the Korea Inequality Research Lab (Director Jong-sung You, Mentor Stephan Haggard) is committed to developing new theories and empirical findings on the causes and consequences of inequality and proposing alternative social policies.
For this purpose, the lab promotes collaborative research among 15 top-level domestic and international scholars. Based on the multidisciplinary approach in the fields of economics, politics and public policy, the lab conducts comparative studies of inequality, focusing on Korea. The lab aims to place Korean studies at the center of new cutting-edge research on inequality, comparing Korea with neighbouring East Asian countries such as Japan and Taiwan and the Western advanced welfare states.
Initiatives for Using Big Administrative Microdata for Policy Research
We have been using the full-population or a large sample of data on income and real estates compiled by the National Health Insurance Service(NHIS) in the study of income and wealth distribution in Seoul(서울시), Seongnam(성남시), amd Jeonbuk State(전북특별자치도). We find that the administrative big data has been improving in capturing personal incomes, although the data cannot construct disposable income because of its lack of information on taxes and transfers and lacks some important information on market income such as daily laborers’ wages and financial incomes (interests and dividends). We are also working to link the NHIS data with other survey and administrative data such as the Survey of Household Finance and Living Conditions(SHFLC) and social security provision data from the Social Security Information Service(SSIS) in order to find the distributive effect of health insurance services and to study the overall effects of social welfare provision in Jeonbuk State, compared with other provinces. We have played a leading role in creating the Administrative Data Research Network-Korea(ADRN-K), which aims to facilitate the use of administrative data in social science and policy research.
Jong-sung You’s articles on the use of administrative date include “Using Administrative Data for Evidence-Based Policy Research,” 2020(with Shin et al.), Korea Social Policy Review(한국사회정책 27,1: 5-37),
“The Merits and Limitations of the NHIS Big Data in the Study of Income Distribution,” 2021(with Kim et al.), Korea Social Policy Review(한국사회정책, 28, 3: 75-105).
His articles based on research using administative date include
“Income-Related Mortality Inequalities and Its Social Factors among Middle-Aged and Older Adults at the District Level in Aging Seoul: An Ecological Study Using Administrative Big Data,” 2021(with Kim et al.), Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 19(1), 383.
“Dimensions and Dynamics of Spatial Wage Inequality in Seoul, 2006 to 2018,” 2023(with Park and Yang), Area Development and Policy 8(3): 274-297.
APSA Working Group on Inequality and Social Policy in East Asia
The APSA Working Group on Inequality and Social Policy in East Asia (Chair: Jong-sung You) aims to facilitate comparative and collaborative research on the politics and political economy of inequality and social policy in East Asian countries. The Working Group convenes during the annual meetings of the American Political Science Association.
The Working Group is supported by the Korea Inequality Research Lab, and is affiliated with the APSA Class & Inequality Section.
Jong-sung You (유종성) 