The purpose of this paper is to examine South Korea’s digital divide policy and investigate how it Korea is one of the most networked countries in the world that has been…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine South Korea’s digital divide policy and investigate how it Korea is one of the most networked countries in the world that has been addressing the digital divide issue since the inception of broadband.
Design/methodology/approach
A secondary data analysis of the National Information Society Agency’s Digital Divide Index was conducted between 2003 and 2012.
Findings
The differences in the changes in the access, skills and utilisation dimensions of the digital divide indicate that a second-level digital divide emerges as penetration increases. The gap in access has been minimised concurrently with the rapid adoption of broadband. Reduction of gaps in skills and effective uses has not followed accordingly.
Social implications
Countries adopting broadband policies to achieve high connectivity can learn from this case and devise preventive policies that can overcome inequalities in skills and utilisation among digitally disadvantaged groups.
Originality/value
By analysing longitudinal data, this study identified an emerging second-level digital divide in a country with high broadband penetration. This has significant implications for policies aiming to narrow the digital divide and that access, skills and utilisation issues should be addressed separately.
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Abstract
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Bong-Kuk Ko, Woo-Jung Lee and Jae-Hoon Lee
The purpose of this study is to understand what health and safety hazards low-income households are subject to by surveying the real conditions of the defective housing of…
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to understand what health and safety hazards low-income households are subject to by surveying the real conditions of the defective housing of low-income households, and to find improvement strategies. For this purpose, we visited the concentrated areas of the multi-dwelling unit (MDU) (also known as multi-family residential) housing in Jungwon-gu and Sujeong-gu in Seongnam City, Kyunggi-do, one of the representative areas in Korea with a massive distribution of the low-income class. Based on the survey data, the level of housing defects were comparison analyzed per income decile (decile 1, decile 2, deciles 3–4), and per housing location, in the categories of subsidence, cracks in the wall, delamination, water leakage/infiltration, condensation, and contamination. The housing condition per income class was more defective in the decile 2 households rather than in the decile 2 households, and in the substructure more than in the superstructure. Among the six defects, contamination problems, caused by sub-standard living conditions, were the most frequent cases. Structural defects, subsidence and cracks in the wall, were found in the main living areas—the bedrooms and the living rooms. It was confirmed in this study that the conditions of low-income housing are serious, and that it is necessary to explore specific countermeasures in the near future.
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Minyeon Han, Dong-Hyun Lee and Hyoung-Goo Kang
This paper aims to replicate 148 anomalies and to examine whether the performance of the Korean market anomalies is statistically and economically significant. First, the authors…
Abstract
This paper aims to replicate 148 anomalies and to examine whether the performance of the Korean market anomalies is statistically and economically significant. First, the authors observe that only 37.8% anomalies in the universe of the KOSPI and the KOSDAQ and value-weighted portfolios have t-statistics that exceed 1.96. When the authors impose a higher threshold (an absolute value of t-statistics of 2.78), only 27.7% of the 148 anomalies survive. Second, microcaps have large impacts. The results vary significantly depending on whether the sample included stocks in the KOSDAQ and whether value-weighted or equal-weighted portfolios are used. The results suggest that data mining explains large portion of abnormal returns. Any tactical asset allocation strategies based on market anomalies should be applied very cautiously.