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KMID : 1124020100260020001
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Korean Social Security Studies
2010 Volume.26 No. 2 p.1 ~ p.21
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Income Bi-polarization and Suicide
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Chang Ji-Yeun
Shin Dong-Gyun
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Abstract
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This paper explains how bi-polarization of an income distribution increases the suicide rate of a society. Following Lee and Shin (2009), it is hypothesized that upward mobility from the low to the high income group is reduced, as the income distribution is more bipolarized, which lowers both the expected future income of the poor and their incentive to supply labor in the legal labor market. Consequently, with other things being constant including income inequality, suicide rates are expected to increase as the income distribution is more bipolarized. Our analysis based on the CNEF (Cross-National Equivalent File) data reveals that suicides rates as well as labor force participation rates are better explained by bi-polarization rather than inequality of an income distribution.
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KEYWORD
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bi-polarization, income inequality, social mobility, suicide
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