Will economic inequality influence individual welfare policy preferences? If so, how? Despite various studies on rising economic inequality in Korea since 2000s, no study has analyzed logical chains from national economic inequality to individual welf...
Will economic inequality influence individual welfare policy preferences? If so, how? Despite various studies on rising economic inequality in Korea since 2000s, no study has analyzed logical chains from national economic inequality to individual welfare policy preferences. Using 3 waves of Korean Welfare Panel Data in 2010, 2013 and 2016, this study analyzes opinions on welfare policies and makes four types of welfare policy preferences. The first type consists of those who do not recognize the rising trend of economic inequality. The second type is the survey respondents who recognize the rising trend of economic inequality but who do not think the government should solve it. The third type consists of those who recognize inequality, agree with the governmental responsibility to solve inequality, but oppose tax increase for welfare expansion. The four type is the survey respondents who recognize inequality, agree with the governmental responsibility to solve it and support tax burden for welfare expansion. Using these four types, empirical analysis tests personal economic condition hypothesis, national economic inequality hypothesis and political leaning hypothesis in order to identify different features of four types.