Explaining the child poverty outcomes of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan

by Bruce Bradbury (UNSW Sydney), Aya Abe (Tokyo Metropolitan University), Markus Jäntti (Stockholm University), Inhoe Ku (Seoul National University), and Julia Shu-Huah Wang (University of Hong Kong)

In Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, child poverty rates are relatively low, despite weak social protection for families with children. Why is this so? This joint work by several authors first focuses on the welfare regime approach in East Asia. However, then the authors present that there are other common characteristics contributing to their relative poverty success: families with children have benefited from recent economic growth more than the older population, parents have high employment levels, lone parent families are uncommon, and private between-household income transfers are more common.

Full article is available here.

September 15, 2022 | News