Income inequality, Partisan Politics, and Welfare Policies in South Korea

• In Event: Poster Session: Comparative Politics I

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of income inequality and partisan politics on social welfare expenditures in the local districts of South Korea from 2002 to 2016. Partisan politics in Korea has been considered as less important to explain the social welfare redistributions. South Korean government, regardless of its partisan affiliation, has significantly increased social welfare expenditures in recent decades. Political parties in Korea have also aligned across regional affiliation/connection rather than distinct partisan policy programs. In this paper I argue that partisan politics in Korea has in fact played a significant role in the allocation of social welfare benefits. The increased income inequality in Korea has polarized economic interests of voters and enlarged class votes in recent years. The increased class votes have incentivized political parties to appeal to their constituents through distinct social welfare policies. In this paper I will categorize district-level social welfare spending data into targeted and general social welfare expenditures and analyze how local districts with different partisan affiliation have allocated social welfare provisions across the categories. Local districts affiliated with rightist parties (e.g., Jayuhangukdang or The Liberty Korea Party) are expected to spend more on targeted social welfare provisions, while local districts with leftist or centrist parties (e.g., Deobureominjudang or The Democratic Party) are expected to spend more on general social welfare provisions.

Author

• Eunyoung Ha, University of California at Berkeley