An econometric analysis of trends in fertility rates

Some regression models are used to test the hypothesis that changes in fertility rates have been caused by changes in socioeconomic conditions. The model is applied to four groups of countries and the conclusion is that no simple relationship exists between fertility changes and environmental changes. This conclusion is at variance with results derived from cross‐section studies and suggests not that there is no relationship between socioeconomic and fertility changes, but only that the relationship may be more complex than that considered in previous models.     

How a demanding employment relationship relates to affective commitment in public organizations: A multilevel analysis

It has recently been recognized in the public administration literature that multiple reforms coexist in public organizations, ranging from the Weberian bureaucracy to New Public Management and, more recently, new public governance. This study develops a typology of the employment relationship with features of these macro‐level changes and tests their impact on the civil servant's affective commitment by including the individual‐level social exchange relationship. This multilevel model is tested with data from 936 employees in a public organization. The findings confirm the existence of different approaches to the employment relationship: overdemanding, mutual investment and moderately demanding. Civil servants in a mutual investment employment relationship are most affectively committed, and civil servants in a moderately demanding employment relationship benefit most from a positive social exchange relationship. Implications for public management theory and practice are discussed.     

Staying sincere: an experimental analysis of non-strategic voting in South Korea

Under ideal conditions, when do voters switch from sincere to strategic voters? Despite a large literature on strategic voting and Duverger’s Law, few studies assess when individuals shift from sincere to strategic nor what factors may encourage or discourage defecting from one’s first choice. Through an experimental web survey analysing district voting in South Korea’s National Assembly, this study measures the effect of partisan cues and the margin of error. Not only did a non-negligible number of respondents remain sincere voters despite conditions favourable to strategic voting, but supporters of smaller parties and those without partisan identification were more likely to defect from their sincere vote when given an additional prompt about the margin of error. The results suggest the contextual influence on the strategic vote calculus.     

Executive-legislative competition in agenda setting: an analysis of longitudinal changes in South Korea

The historical patterns of executive dominance in national policymaking have undergone a rapid transformation in South Korea. In the context of an emerging institutional rivalry between the executive and legislative branches in forming national policies, this study examines a causal nexus among the agenda power parity, jurisdictional complexity, and the scope and diversity of the national agenda space. A series of data analyses on various original measures of the key variables reveal that the two dimensions of the national agenda space have been reshaped via different causal processes. While the rise of the legislative power in agenda setting and the complexity of legislative jurisdictions tend to increase the scope of the national agenda space, democratic transition subsumes the influence of all other factors in increasing the diversity of the national agenda space.     

Teenage fertility in developing countries

Perhaps one of the most pervasive phenomena among teenaged females today is “teenage fertility”. The purpose of this article is to describe teenage fertility as it relates to developing countries. The study attempts to pose the problem by considering a large number of developing nations for which data are available and by describing the levels and trends in teen fertility rates.     

A Legitimate Paradox: Neo-liberal Reform and the Return of the State in Korea

This article examines the neo-liberal reforms that the Kim government implemented in post-crisis Korea. It argues that by embracing the reforms, the state, paradoxically, re-legitimised itself in the national political economy. The process of enacting the reforms completed the power shift from a collusive state-chaebol alliance towards a new alliance based on a more populist social contract - but one that nonetheless generally conformed to the tenets of neo-liberalism. Kim and his closest associates identified the malpractices of the chaebols as the main cause of the crisis, so reforming the chaebols would be the key to economic recovery. Combining populism and neo-liberalism, they drew on support from both domestic and international sources to rein in, rather than nurture, the chaebols.     

Sanction experience and sanction behavior: an analysis of Chinese perception and behavior on economic sanctions

This paper seeks to explore the interrelationship between a country's sanction experience, perception, and behavior. The analysis focuses on the case of China, which is one of very few countries that have not only undergone a number of significant economic sanctions but also have experience of imposing economic sanctions upon others. All historical cases of major economic sanctions against China, as well as cases of Chinese economic sanctions against other countries, are examined. A comparison between China's sanction experience and sanction behavior points to a connection between the two: all strategic sanctions in history against China failed, and correspondingly, China rarely employed strategic sanctions against others. In parallel, most tactical sanctions against China were successful, and coincidentally, China has been much more open to using or threatening to use tactical sanctions in its own practice. The findings of this analysis offer an opportunity for Western policy practitioners to reconsider their approach of engaging China in order to improve future coordination and cooperation in multilateral economic sanctions.     

Consumption of modern goods and services and it's relation to fertility: A study in Taiwan

A survey in Taiwan showed that couples whose consumption patterns emphasize modem goods and services also exhibit modern fertility behaviour, i.e. they cite a somewhat lower ideal family size and are considerably more likely to be using contraception. Since the ownership of modern goods in Taiwan does not appear to be achieved at the expense of either savings or educational aspirations, a suggested hypothesis is that economic development, by fostering new wants, may encourage couples to limit family size.     

North Korea Will Disarm in Two Years

"A promise to five powers — especially since China is involved — is more likely to be kept than a promise to one. At the end of the day, the North Koreans will come around and disarm. I believe they will agree to disarm within two years. Their economy is so weak they can't hold out much longer."     

Impact evaluations in South Korea and China

While evidence-based policy-making is increasingly in demand, as new policies are required to bring effective results to targeted groups in South Korea and China, few studies have investigated the progress of quantitative impact evaluation that focuses on causality. This paper studies the trends of quantitative impact evaluation of public policy in South Korea and China by surveying major public administration and public policy journals in these two countries from 2000 to 2015. Among published articles in the major journals, our study pool includes research articles directly related to quantitative impact evaluation. Our study found that there has been considerable progress in impact evaluation research in South Korea and China in both data quality and empirical methods. However, empirical impact evaluation still comprises a small fraction (only one to two percent) of all research in public administration and public policy in both countries. We also found limited discussion on the selection mechanism and related bias in South Korea even in recent years, while causality and selection bias have been more commonly discussed in China. Also, advanced empirical methods are more frequently observed in journal articles in China than those in South Korea.     

Social integration and suicide in South Korea

The increasing suicide rate in South Korea in recent decades was found to be associated with measures of social integration/regulation (birth and divorce rates).     

Comparing public servants' behavior in South Korea and the United States: How emotional labor moderates the relationship between organizational commitment and job performance

The relationship between organizational commitment and job performance matters in public service delivery, and so does the emotive dimension of the citizen—state interaction. However, public management theories and principles must take national culture into account, because comparative investigation reveals limits to generalizability across cultures. This study provides an example. It examines the link between commitment and performance as well as the moderating effect of emotional labor for public service workers in Korea and the United States. Probably due to the differing effect of collectivist versus individualist norms, findings reveal that authentic emotive expression bolsters the relationship between organizational commitment and job performance in Korea, while its opposite, inauthentic emotive expression weakens the link between commitment and performance in the United States. 공공서비스를 전달하는 과정에서 조직몰입과 직무성과의 관계는 중요한 문제이며, 이에 못지않게 시민-국가 상호작용에 있어서 감정적 차원 또한 중요한 문제이다. 공공관리 이론이나 원리를 연구할 때 국가차원의 문화를 고려할 필요가 있는데, 이는 비교연구의 수행이 서로 다른 문화들을 일반화하는 데 따른 한계점을 파악할 수 있게 해 주기 때문이다. 본 연구는 이러한 측면에서 하나의 본보기를 제시한다. 이 연구는 몰입과 성과의 관계를 고찰할 뿐만 아니라 감정노동의 조절효과를 미국과 한국의 공공부문 종사자들을 통하여 살펴본다. 본 연구의 결과는 한국의 공공조직에서 진성 감정표현이 조직몰입과 직무성과를 강화해 줄 수 있으며, 이와는 대조적으로 미국의 공공조직에서는 비진성 감정표현이 몰입과 성과의 관계를 약화시킬 수 있다는 점을 보여준다. 이러한 결과는 집단주의 문화와 개인주의 문화가 서로 다른 영향을 미친 것으로 보인다.     

Integration,functional differentiation and problem‐solving in multilevel governance

The European Union (EU) is currently facing unprecedented challenges to its problem‐solving capacity, such as those represented by pressing transnational crises and by bottom‐up criticisms towards the European integration process. Moreover, the EU is said to compensate its weak input legitimacy with an enhanced problem‐solving capacity. However, the notion of problem‐solving itself has remained remarkably vague in the multilevel governance (MLG) literature. This symposium analyses problem‐solving in different MLG settings. In this introduction, we identify procedural and operational notions of problem‐solving in MLG, and present a structural framework to guide the comparative analyses of multilevel systems along the dimensions of political integration, functional differentiation and decentralization. The contributions to the symposium illustrate how structural elements of different multilevel systems shape both the policy‐making process and the politics of problem‐solving within these systems. In doing so, they pave the way for further comparative research.     

President Trump,There Is A Deal To Be Made With North Korea

North Korea might agree to a nuclear deal in return for economic concessions from South Korea and security assurances from the US