2023, Vol.30, No.1

Regional Development through Humanistic Meaning and Practice of ‘Local’: Focusing on the Comparison of Cases of ‘Local Creators’ in Korea and Japan

Chung Suhee , Lee, Byung-Min | 2023, 30(1) | pp.5~42 | number of Cited : 4

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China’s SARS Crisis and ‘Community-Based’ Quarantine

Lee, Dongjin | 2023, 30(1) | pp.43~77 | number of Cited : 1

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An Evaluation Framework for Socio-Economic Impacts of Water Management Information Systems: A Case in Uzbekistan

Hyejin Im , Jooyoung Kwak , Heejin Lee | 2023, 30(1) | pp.79~113 | number of Cited : 0

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IMPACT OF THE VILLAGE FUND PROGRAM ON POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN INDONESIA

Riza Andina , KIM, Jung Ho | 2023, 30(1) | pp.115~154 | number of Cited : 0

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High poverty incidence and stagnant decrease in poverty rates have always been a big challenge for developing countries. To address this issue, the Government of Indonesia made a breakthrough by implementing a program called Village Fund Transfer in 2015. The government is committed to enhancing its economy and development, especially in the rural and outermost regions, by granting funds and authority to each of over seventy thousand villages in Indonesia. This study explores the causal effect of the Village Fund Program on poverty alleviation in Indonesia using an Impact Evaluation approach by applying the Difference-in-Difference Event Study Framework. Due to data limitation, the study uses approximately 500 district-level data and compares the poverty rates of districts receiving the program funds and those not receiving the program funds between 2011 and 2021. By employing this identification strategy, this study is able to provide more robust estimates of the program’s impact and its dynamic variation yet is unable to consider the intensity variations within the recipient districts. In addition, the observed districts were divided into three groups based on their geographical conditions using a Construction Cost Index. The empirical results on all districts data found a significant impact of the Village Fund Program on reducing poverty four years after the program’s inception in 2015. A significant impact was also seen starting in 2017 for districts with low geographical disadvantage, and from 2018 for districts with intermediate geographical disadvantage. However, the study also revealed that this program has no significant impact in highly geographically disadvantaged districts. This emphasizes the importance of initial geographical and infrastructure conditions. Therefore, it is argued that the highly geographically disadvantaged regions should prioritize their village fund on infrastructure development rather than community empowerment programs.

Comparative Analysis on the Performance Evaluation of Contracting-Out Business for Employment Service between Korea and Australia

KIM HO-WON , Lee Jong Gu , Seong-Uk Oh | 2023, 30(1) | pp.155~177 | number of Cited : 0

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The purpose of this study is to compare and analyze the business evaluation of Korea’s representative employment service contracting-out business, the employment success package, and Australia’s contracting-out business evaluation and operation method, which currently entrusts all public employment services. To this end, this study conducted case analysis by referring to literature analysis, field trip visits, and result reports. As a result of comparative analysis of performance evaluation, the following items could be benchmarked from the case of Australia. First, considering that contracting-out agencies in Korea are small, it is necessary to consider an integrated evaluation method if they are composed of headquarters and branches like Australia, rather than evaluating each branch. Second, in the case of Korea, there is an excessively uniformity in the evaluation target period and the announcement of evaluation results, but in the case of Australia, there was a difference depending on the evaluation period and announcement point depending on the contract conclusion point. Therefore, it is necessary to flexibly select a project agency according to regional characteristics and conditions, so that there is room for different public announcement times according to evaluation results and agencies subject to evaluation. Third, in the case of Korea, participation in the next year’s project is restricted if certain standards are met through performance evaluation. Therefore, the project can be counterproductive in terms of quality improvement for employment services by carrying out the project with a great burden of performance evaluation every year. Therefore, it is necessary to benchmark the case of Australia, which is not used as a means to exit institutions that produce low performance with performance evaluation results. However, despite the results of the above research, this paper has limitations in that it relied heavily on Korean data when analyzing Australia’s performance evaluation system for employment services and private consignment projects.

Unraveling the Relationship Between Self-Esteem and Underemployment A Machine Learning Approach

Yun-Young Kyung , CIN BEOM CHEOL , Young-Seok Lee and 1 other persons | 2023, 30(1) | pp.179~203 | number of Cited : 0

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This paper uses the job competition theory to explore causes and procedures of underemployment by adapting structural aspects of the labor market. The paper empirically investigates determinants of underemployment by employing random forests. It pays a special attention to self-esteem as a key variable to determine whether or not the labor force status is that of underemployment. For the empirical analyses, a dataset of Youth Panel 2007(YP2007) is utilized, ranging from the 5th to 12th dataset. Methods and results of the analyses are as follows. Random forests take 84 independent variables into account including individual characteristics, personal background, types of jobs, job-search experience, and self-esteem. As a result, a model 1 for underemployment based on education is created, with 94% accuracy, 92% sensitivity, and 96% specificity. A model 2 for underemployment based on technology levels is also created with 93% accuracy, 92% sensitivity, and 95% specificity. Both models find that there is high variable importance such as lists of industrial occupations, business locations, monthly average income, along with self-esteem variables. To conclude, the analysis of random forests finds that self-esteem is predictive in determining underemployment. This paper considers the main determinant of underemployment with particular interest as self-esteem, which is an integral, albeit overlooked explanatory variable. As the result found that high self-esteem plays a key role to appropriate job transitions, methods for education in improving self-esteem are needed. Timely education is incredibly important. Self-esteem is shaped in the teenage years and from young and preschool periods. Once formed, self-esteem tends to be resistant to change. Also, the process of molding and forming self-esteem is influenced by environments around the person. Therefore, targets for education should be broadened into - not to mention young children - surrounding people including parents and teachers. Further research is needed to explore the specific path of how levels of self-esteem affects preparation procedures for jobs and closely analyze how levels of self-esteem influence career outcomes.

KJCKorea
Journal Central

Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.61

2023, Vol.30, No.1