Bun Song Lee

The influence of rural-urban migration on migrants' fertility in Korea, Mexico and Cameroon

The paper presents a comparative analysis of the relationship between rural-urban migration and fertility in Korea, Mexico, and Cameroon. Using an autoregressive model, the results show a significant rural-urban migration adaptation effect in Korea and Mexico, a reduction of 2.57 and 1.45 children during the entire childbearing period, respectively, when compared to a rural stayer, even after the effect of selection has been controlled. Rural-urban migration has a very small impact on fertility in Cameroon. The unexpected result for Cameroon is due to the fact that the fertility-increasing effect of urban residency on the improved supply conditions of births, such as reduced infertility, offsets the fertility-depressing effect of urban residency on the demand for births. As a result of the adaptation to urban fertility norms, the number of country-wide births was reduced significantly in Mexico and Korea over the time periods studied.

The Influence of Rural-Urban Migration on Migrant's Fertility Behavior in Cameroon

An autoregressive model has been applied to the 1978 Cameroon World Fertility Survey data to test the fertility adaptation hypothesis of rural-urban migration. The fertility differential between rural-urban migrants and rural stayers is very small in Cameroon when compared with that of Korea and Mexico. However, the lack of fertility differentials between rural-urban migrants and rural stayers which are the result of the unique cultural and biosocial parameters of African fertility does not imply a weak fertility adaptation effect.

Fertility adaptation of rural-to-urban migrant women: A method of estimation applled to Korean women

This study proposes to test for the existence of an adaptation effect of rural-to-urban migration. The design is to divide migrants into two groups at the time of observation: one group which had migrated by that time, and another group consisting of individuals who had not yet migrated but are known to migrate later. It is presumed that if the former group had not migrated it would have had a birth path similar to the latter group. Adaptation is measured by the difference between this hypothetical birth path and the actual birth path of migrants observed after they migrate. The model is tested on Korean women and found to support the existence of an adaptation effect.

The influence of rapid rural-urban migration on Korean national fertility levels.

A autoregressive model is applied to personal migration and pregnancy histories recorded in the 1974 Korean World Fertility Survey to assess the adaptation effect of rural-urban migration on migrant fertility and national fertility levels. The objective of this study is to provide policy makers in developing nations with a model that will enable them to quantify the effects of rapid urbanization on the fertility level of migrant women and thus on national fertility levels. The fertility of rural-urban migrants is on the average lower than that of rural stayers; this study supports the adaptation hypothesis and indicates that rural-urban migrants experienced a significant reduction in 5 year fertility rates from those of comparable rural stayers after migration to the urban area. In addition, the city specific effects of migration on fertility are of considerable importance; migrants to larger cities adapt more over their lifetime than migrants to smaller cities. The completed adaptation by postmarital, rural-urban migrants is largest among migrants who are least educated. The autoregressive model controls the fertility level at the beginning of the observed period; it is assumed that this is a proxy for family size preferences. Results show that the completed fertility of migrant women with less than 4 years of school is 1.9 children fewer than that of comparable rural stayers, 1 child fewer for migrant women with 4 to 6 years of school, and .8 children fewer for migrant women with at least 6 years of school. For Korea, the overall effects on national fertility of rural-urban migration represent a reduction of 1.79 births per woman for the 1965-1970 period; it is estimated that the 945,400 rural-urban women migrants of this period would avoid, on average, 71,300 births annually for their expected average 24 years of urban life.

Testing Alternative Specifications of Reserve Flow Equations: The Japanese Experience, 1959–1986

Using annual data for Japan spanning the period 1959–1986, alternative reduced form equations are derived and various monetarist propositions are tested against their Keynesian alternatives. Employing specification and exogeneity tests in order to choose between restricted and unrestricted model specifications—concerning purchasing power parity and exchange market pressure—we find evidence of deviation from purchasing power parity. The results also indicate that the monetary approach is favored over the Keynesian alternative. Finally, the results suggest that foreign disturbances are transmitted to the exchange market pressure variable by foreign money supply growth, controlling for real foreign income growth, rather than through foreign inflation. [430]

Effect of marital dissolution on fertility in Cameroon

There is reason to believe that in the short run marriages are becoming more stable in some Western African countries such as Cameroon. One of the crucial questions facing these countries is whether fertility rates can be expected to increase or decrease due in part to the increased stability of marriages. Analyzing 1978 Cameroon World Fertility Survey data and using a multivariate regression model which compares the fertility rate of women who have had at least 1 marital disruption with that of continuously married women we studied the relationship between marital instability and fertility. The results show that fertility rates for women married more than once are significantly lower than those continuously married women even before the end of their 1st marriage. Furthermore marital disruption significantly reduces fertility rates after dissolution of the 1st marriage. Finally even after the length of reproductive time lost is controlled there is an inverse relationship between the number of marriages and fertility. The results are discussed in the context of economic development modernization and urbanization. (authors)

CITY SIZE, LABOR PRODUCTIVITY AND WAGES IN KOREA

This study attempts to derive policy implications for spatially-balanced growth through empirical analysis on determinants of regional wage gaps in Korea. Combes et al. [(2008) Spatial wage disparities: Sorting Matters. Journal of Urban Economics, 63, 723–742] suggest that regional wage gaps result from the regional differences in workers’ human capital, nonhuman endowments, and agglomeration economies. The current study applies a similar two-stage estimation model to the 2006 cross-sectional data for 4009 workers from the Korean Labor Panel Survey (KLPS) performed by the Korea Labor Institute. Localization economies are positive external effects from the geographic concentration of firms in the same industry. We find evidence of localization economies in our research. The second stage estimation results for the determinants of regional wage gaps show that the average wage is higher in areas that concentrate in a small number of industries rather than in areas that are diversified with many industries. This result is in direct contrast to the findings from Combes et al. [(2008) Spatial wage disparities: Sorting Matters. Journal of Urban Economics, 63, 723–742] who analyze the French labor market data. This difference can be explained by the possibility that in Korea the improved quality of life (e.g., better education services) and/or the increase in job mobility in large diversified metropolitan areas induce workers to accept relatively lower wages in those areas. In order to resolve the bias in the estimation of the agglomeration effects caused by the heterogeneity of workers, we also performed panel regressions of the 2nd 2000 and the 7th 2005 KLPS panel data of 7431 observations. The panel regression results also support our original findings from regressions of the 8th 2006 KLPS data.

Nontradable goods prices and per-caita income: an application to regional Korean data

Pooled time-series cross-sectional regional data for Korea over the period 1985–1991 are used to investigate points which emerged from the United Nations International Comparison project. The results, based on a regional analysis, are opposite to those of the ICP. The prices of services do not increase more rapidly in fast growing than in slow growing regions. This regional analysis provides constradictory evidence to the widely recognized stylized fact that the prices of nontradables increase with real per capital income by a larger margin than the prices of tradables increase.