The Journal of Population Studies

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South Korea and Japan have undergone rapid demographic change (i.e., population aging and shrinking family size) in recent years, which is accompanied by widespread poverty and prevalent income disparity in elderly households. This study aims to empirically analyze the dynamic mechanism of poverty in elderly households in South Korea and its causal relationship with poverty risks or determinants from a comparative perspective in cases in Japan by using comprehensive panel data on elderly households in both countries. Estimation results suggest that, first of all, higher age and poorer health （in Korea）, and female householders （in Japan） are shown to be significant risk factors influencing poverty of the elderly. Second, higher educational background, asset holdings, and a work history of regular employment （only in Korea） are significantly associated with reducing poverty risks among elderly households. More specifically, income transfers from public pension systems are likely to have a stronger anti-poverty effect in Japan than having higher educational background. In contrast, it is demonstrated that public transfers in South Korea have no impact on alleviating the poverty risks of the elderly, while private income transfers from family members as well as current labor income earned by householders are considered to have a role as a social safety net to a certain extent in Korea.

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This paper analyses procrastination in finding a partner as one of the non-economic factors associated with the trend away from traditional courtship habits. From the results of our questionnaire and an experiment based on behavioral economics, we confirm that there are many unmarried young people who give higher priority to their carefree life than to finding a partner. We also find that those who put off finding a partner and have a present-biased preference become more active in their courtship activity once they are made aware of their procrastination. These results suggest the importance of further research on the topic.

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This work aims to deepen demographically understanding a human aging by constructing each backward human-aging cohort of male and female as a longitudinal study and by analyzing such constructed demographic data with the lifespan equation (the so-called diffusion model), which has biological backgrounds. To demonstrate a validity of the results, the author employed some predictions of Vaupel (2010) as a reference in comparison with author’s results. In this study the results implied that the aging cohort of male and female may be composed of at least three components (or three sub-cohorts) and that each component has approximately the same aging rate. In addition, the higher the extension of the lifespan became, the higher a ratio of the three components was, and the most extended component was beyond 80%. These results strongly support one side in two predictions that were proposed by Vaupel.

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