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The Effect of Social Pension on Material Hardship among Older Adults in Korea: Regression Discontinuity Estimation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2023

Seoyeon Ahn Open the ORCID record for Seoyeon Ahn [Opens in a new window] ,
Ji Young Kang Open the ORCID record for Ji Young Kang [Opens in a new window] ,
Yung Chun Open the ORCID record for Yung Chun [Opens in a new window]  and
Sojung Park Open the ORCID record for Sojung Park [Opens in a new window]
Seoyeon Ahn
Affiliation:
National Pension Research Institute, Jeonju, South Korea
Ji Young Kang*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Welfare, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, South Korea
Yung Chun
Affiliation:
Social Policy Institute, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, US
Sojung Park
Affiliation:
Brown School of Social Work, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, US
*
*Email: jiyoungksw@gmail.com
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Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine the effect of a social pension programme for older adults in South Korea, Basic Pension Scheme (BPS) on material hardship and subjective well-being. We apply a regression discontinuity design (RDD) to estimate the effect of the BPS on the material hardship and life satisfaction of older people between the ages of sixty-one and sixty-eight. Data come from Korea Welfare Panel Study (KOWEPS) wave 12 survey (2017, N = 3,932). The BPS benefit reduces the risks of housing hardship, bill payment delay and food insecurity. Interestingly, while the effect sizes of the BPS on mitigating the material hardship increase as income decreases, the lower-income groups were less satisfied with the pension provision than middle- and upper-income groups. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on material hardship for older adults in an Asian country facing persistent old-age poverty and immature public pensions.

Keywords

Basic Pensionmaterial hardshiplife satisfactionold-age poverty
Type
Article
Information
Social Policy and Society , First View , pp. 1 - 19
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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