A Look through Indicators into Inequalities in the Past Decade

Abstract

The International Monetary Fund earlier this year ranked the Republic of Korea the 10th largest economy in the world. Also, the United National Conference on Trade and Development added Korea to the group of “advanced economies.” Now that it has become the economic powerhouse it is, it stands to reason that Korea should extend its policy interest beyond growth to inequality in distribution. Inequality has been viewed as detrimental to economic efficiency and growth and even to democracy (Joseph Stiglitz, The Price of Inequality). Furthermore, inequalities in capital and assets pass down across generations, gradually eroding the quality of life of individuals (Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century). Against this backdrop, the government, set to pursue “people-centered” economic growth, announced in July 2021 its Korean New Deal 2.0 initiative with a promise for greater investments in people and reduced inequality and disparities. This study aims to examine inequality in income and assets and to provide basic data on which to base policymaking for reducing inequality. This study draws on several sources of data. The income inequality of the 10-year period preceding the outbreak of covid-19 is examined via Statistics Korea’s income distribution indicators that were generated with data from the Survey of Household Finances and Living Conditions. Income inequality after covid-19 is examined by means of indicators drawn from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey for years from 2019 to 2021 only, as the emphasis here is on seeing the impact of the pandemic on inequality. This study looks also at assets, another source of unequally-distributed wealth, through indicators generated with data from the Survey of Household Finances and Living Conditions for 2019.