New IZA DPs -- Poverty & Inequality
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IZA DP Alerts
May 19, 2026, 9:09:18 AMMay 19
to it...@umich.edu
IZA Discussion Papers
Dear Italo Gutierrez,
These new IZA Discussion Papers are now available online.
DP 18488 - Giannelli/Hegyi:
The Economic Determinants of Old-Age Poverty in South Korea: Evidence from Longitudinal Household Data
DP 18585 - Aldashev/Danzer:
Regulating Ceremonial Spending: Top-down or Bottom-up?
DP 18588 - Dang/Do:
Social Protection in Vietnam: An Updated Overview
DP 18607 - Biroli/Martin-Bassols/Marees/van Kippersluis/Rietveld/Arce/Thom/von Hinke/Vollen/Galama:
Sources of Inequality at Birth: The Interplay Between Genes and Parental Socioeconomic Status
DP 18610 - Montes-Viñas/Sologon/Li:
National Stability, Local Reconfiguration: Demographics, Labour Markets, and Redistribution in Spatial Income Inequality
Please find the abstracts and download links below.
IZA DP No. 18488
Gianna Claudia Giannelli, Tamara Hegyi:
The Economic Determinants of Old-Age Poverty in South Korea: Evidence from Longitudinal Household Data
Abstract:
In South Korea, nearly 40% of the elderly population lives in poverty, one of the highest rates in the developed world. As the country undergoes a rapid demographic transition and the share of older individuals increases, understanding the drivers of old-age poverty becomes increasingly important. We study the economic determinants of poverty among individuals aged 65 and over using eight waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging and the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study covering 2006–2020. We adopt a longitudinal framework and estimate fixed-effects ordered logistic regression models where poverty status is measured as an ordered outcome. The results show that living apart from one’s children and residing in rental housing are associated with greater poverty. In contrast, co-residence with children, homeownership, and continued employment are strongly linked to lower poverty levels. Public transfers show no statistically significant association with poverty outcomes. These findings stress the importance of family co-residence, housing tenure, and labour market attachment in shaping old-age poverty in South Korea and suggest expanding housing support, employment opportunities, and strengthening social security coverage.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18488.pdf
IZA DP No. 18585
Alisher Aldashev, Alexander M. Danzer:
Regulating Ceremonial Spending: Top-down or Bottom-up?
Abstract:
Ceremonies are central to social life, yet the pressure to conform to community spending norms traps households in a collectively suboptimal equilibrium, imposing severe financial burdens. Using nationally and regionally representative longitudinal data from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, we document that ceremonial expenditures are sizeable, display striking income inelasticities, and are strongly shaped by local spending norms, making celebrations disproportionately burdensome for poorer households. We evaluate two distinct regulatory approaches through separate natural experiments: a top-down legal ban on lavish wedding celebrations in Tajikistan and a bottom-up, community-driven norm agreement in Kyrgyzstan- interventions with close analogues in Afghanistan, China, India, and Pakistan. Both yield reductions in ceremonial spending, with household savings larger under the bottom-up approach, but they operate through fundamentally different compliance mechanisms. The top-down re form hinges on external monitoring and credible sanctions, while the bottom-up intervention relies on social trust and norm internalization. These findings identify external enforcement and social trust as the key compliance mechanisms.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18585.pdf
IZA DP No. 18588
Hai-Anh H Dang, Minh N.N. Do:
Social Protection in Vietnam: An Updated Overview
Abstract:
While Vietnam has been remarkably successful in poverty reduction, the country is faced with various challenges ranging from uneven pockets of poverty, regional inequality, low labour productivity, and high informality rates, to a fast-ageing society. We offer an updated overview of the social protection system in Vietnam, including its design and function, scale and reach, and the impacts of some key programmes. Our results, based on recent literature review and new analysis using data from various international and national sources, could offer relevant inputs for policies to help address current challenges.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18588.pdf
IZA DP No. 18607
Pietro Biroli, Nicolau Martin-Bassols, Andries T. Marees, Hans van Kippersluis, Cornelius A. Rietveld, Pia Arce, Kevin Thom, Stephanie von Hinke, Jeremy Vollen, Titus Galama:
Sources of Inequality at Birth: The Interplay Between Genes and Parental Socioeconomic Status
Abstract:
The start of a human's life can be characterized by two lotteries: that of your genes (nature) and the family you were born into (nurture). These set in motion a trajectory, from birth onward, in health and human capital. Leveraging three longitudinal social-science data sets, we systematically analyze the relationship between an individual's genotype, the socioeconomic status (SES) of the families they grew up in, and their realized traits in adulthood. We proxy an individual's genetic predisposition by polygenic indexes (PGIs) and family SES by a latent factor of parental education and father's (former) occupational status. We then investigate how PGIs, parental SES, and their interaction contribute to later-life outcomes across a range of forty-five socioeconomic, anthropometric, health, behavioral, and personality traits. We find strong genetic and socioeconomic associations with these phenotypes, but no evidence of sizable gene-environment interactions.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18607.pdf
IZA DP No. 18610
Ana Montes-Viñas, Denisa M. Sologon, Jinjing Li:
National Stability, Local Reconfiguration: Demographics, Labour Markets, and Redistribution in Spatial Income Inequality
Abstract:
This paper examines how stable national disposable income inequality can coexist with substantial local reconfiguration in a small, open, and integrated economy. Focusing on Luxembourg between 2011 and 2021, it analyses how demographic change, labour market restructuring, and redistribution shape inequality across municipalities. We develop a spatial microsimulation framework combining EU-SILC microdata, Census aggregates, and EUROMOD to recover local disposable income distributions where representative small-area data are unavailable. Three findings emerge. First, inequality is driven mainly by disparities within municipalities, not by differences between them. Second, although disposable income inequality is spatially clustered, clustering weakens over time. Stable national inequality conceals divergent local trajectories: inequality declines in Luxembourg City and its urban belt, but rises in the southern industrial belt, the northern region, and other municipalities. Thir d, counterfactual decompositions show that demographic change increased local inequality outside the urban core, while labour market change and the tax-benefit system partly offset this pressure.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18610.pdf
These new IZA Discussion Papers are now available online.
DP 18488 - Giannelli/Hegyi:
The Economic Determinants of Old-Age Poverty in South Korea: Evidence from Longitudinal Household Data
DP 18585 - Aldashev/Danzer:
Regulating Ceremonial Spending: Top-down or Bottom-up?
DP 18588 - Dang/Do:
Social Protection in Vietnam: An Updated Overview
DP 18607 - Biroli/Martin-Bassols/Marees/van Kippersluis/Rietveld/Arce/Thom/von Hinke/Vollen/Galama:
Sources of Inequality at Birth: The Interplay Between Genes and Parental Socioeconomic Status
DP 18610 - Montes-Viñas/Sologon/Li:
National Stability, Local Reconfiguration: Demographics, Labour Markets, and Redistribution in Spatial Income Inequality
Please find the abstracts and download links below.
IZA DP No. 18488
Gianna Claudia Giannelli, Tamara Hegyi:
The Economic Determinants of Old-Age Poverty in South Korea: Evidence from Longitudinal Household Data
Abstract:
In South Korea, nearly 40% of the elderly population lives in poverty, one of the highest rates in the developed world. As the country undergoes a rapid demographic transition and the share of older individuals increases, understanding the drivers of old-age poverty becomes increasingly important. We study the economic determinants of poverty among individuals aged 65 and over using eight waves of the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging and the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study covering 2006–2020. We adopt a longitudinal framework and estimate fixed-effects ordered logistic regression models where poverty status is measured as an ordered outcome. The results show that living apart from one’s children and residing in rental housing are associated with greater poverty. In contrast, co-residence with children, homeownership, and continued employment are strongly linked to lower poverty levels. Public transfers show no statistically significant association with poverty outcomes. These findings stress the importance of family co-residence, housing tenure, and labour market attachment in shaping old-age poverty in South Korea and suggest expanding housing support, employment opportunities, and strengthening social security coverage.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18488.pdf
IZA DP No. 18585
Alisher Aldashev, Alexander M. Danzer:
Regulating Ceremonial Spending: Top-down or Bottom-up?
Abstract:
Ceremonies are central to social life, yet the pressure to conform to community spending norms traps households in a collectively suboptimal equilibrium, imposing severe financial burdens. Using nationally and regionally representative longitudinal data from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, we document that ceremonial expenditures are sizeable, display striking income inelasticities, and are strongly shaped by local spending norms, making celebrations disproportionately burdensome for poorer households. We evaluate two distinct regulatory approaches through separate natural experiments: a top-down legal ban on lavish wedding celebrations in Tajikistan and a bottom-up, community-driven norm agreement in Kyrgyzstan- interventions with close analogues in Afghanistan, China, India, and Pakistan. Both yield reductions in ceremonial spending, with household savings larger under the bottom-up approach, but they operate through fundamentally different compliance mechanisms. The top-down re form hinges on external monitoring and credible sanctions, while the bottom-up intervention relies on social trust and norm internalization. These findings identify external enforcement and social trust as the key compliance mechanisms.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18585.pdf
IZA DP No. 18588
Hai-Anh H Dang, Minh N.N. Do:
Social Protection in Vietnam: An Updated Overview
Abstract:
While Vietnam has been remarkably successful in poverty reduction, the country is faced with various challenges ranging from uneven pockets of poverty, regional inequality, low labour productivity, and high informality rates, to a fast-ageing society. We offer an updated overview of the social protection system in Vietnam, including its design and function, scale and reach, and the impacts of some key programmes. Our results, based on recent literature review and new analysis using data from various international and national sources, could offer relevant inputs for policies to help address current challenges.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18588.pdf
IZA DP No. 18607
Pietro Biroli, Nicolau Martin-Bassols, Andries T. Marees, Hans van Kippersluis, Cornelius A. Rietveld, Pia Arce, Kevin Thom, Stephanie von Hinke, Jeremy Vollen, Titus Galama:
Sources of Inequality at Birth: The Interplay Between Genes and Parental Socioeconomic Status
Abstract:
The start of a human's life can be characterized by two lotteries: that of your genes (nature) and the family you were born into (nurture). These set in motion a trajectory, from birth onward, in health and human capital. Leveraging three longitudinal social-science data sets, we systematically analyze the relationship between an individual's genotype, the socioeconomic status (SES) of the families they grew up in, and their realized traits in adulthood. We proxy an individual's genetic predisposition by polygenic indexes (PGIs) and family SES by a latent factor of parental education and father's (former) occupational status. We then investigate how PGIs, parental SES, and their interaction contribute to later-life outcomes across a range of forty-five socioeconomic, anthropometric, health, behavioral, and personality traits. We find strong genetic and socioeconomic associations with these phenotypes, but no evidence of sizable gene-environment interactions.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18607.pdf
IZA DP No. 18610
Ana Montes-Viñas, Denisa M. Sologon, Jinjing Li:
National Stability, Local Reconfiguration: Demographics, Labour Markets, and Redistribution in Spatial Income Inequality
Abstract:
This paper examines how stable national disposable income inequality can coexist with substantial local reconfiguration in a small, open, and integrated economy. Focusing on Luxembourg between 2011 and 2021, it analyses how demographic change, labour market restructuring, and redistribution shape inequality across municipalities. We develop a spatial microsimulation framework combining EU-SILC microdata, Census aggregates, and EUROMOD to recover local disposable income distributions where representative small-area data are unavailable. Three findings emerge. First, inequality is driven mainly by disparities within municipalities, not by differences between them. Second, although disposable income inequality is spatially clustered, clustering weakens over time. Stable national inequality conceals divergent local trajectories: inequality declines in Luxembourg City and its urban belt, but rises in the southern industrial belt, the northern region, and other municipalities. Thir d, counterfactual decompositions show that demographic change increased local inequality outside the urban core, while labour market change and the tax-benefit system partly offset this pressure.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18610.pdf
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If you have trouble downloading the papers, or for any other questions regarding the IZA Discussion Paper Series, please contact iza...@liser.lu.
IZA@LISER Network
Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)
11, Porte des Sciences, L-4366 Esch-sur-Alzette / Belval
Privacy Policy | Manage your subscriptions
If you have trouble downloading the papers, or for any other questions regarding the IZA Discussion Paper Series, please contact iza...@liser.lu.
IZA@LISER Network
Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)
11, Porte des Sciences, L-4366 Esch-sur-Alzette / Belval
Privacy Policy | Manage your subscriptions
IZA DP Alerts
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