Research interests: Labor Economics, Applied Econometrics, Public Economics, and Economic Demography
Publications and Forthcoming Son, Yeon Jeong. 2017. “Do Childbirth Grants Increase the Fertility Rate? Policy Impacts in South Korea.” Review of Economics of the Household: 1-23. In response to a low fertility rate, a number of municipalities in South Korea have been providing family benefits in the form of childbirth grants and child allowance. Using panel data for 230 municipalities that spans the years 2001 through 2014, this paper examines the impacts of family benefits on the fertility rate in Korea. I use the fact that different municipalities began providing the family benefits at different times to estimate the impact of family benefits on fertility rates using a difference-in-differences approach. This study finds a positive effect of family benefits on total fertility rate. Moreover, it finds that there is little evidence of an anticipatory response within municipalities adopted the policy. Given that a one million Korean won increase in family benefits is associated with 3.5 percent increase in the total fertility rate, an increase in family benefits by about 44 million Korean won will be required to raise the total fertility rate to a safe zone above 1.5 children per woman, where population declines are gradual and easily reversed.
Lehrer, Evelyn L. and Yeong Jeong Son. 2017.“Women’s Age at First Marriage and Marital Instability: Differences by Race and Ethnicity.” Demographic Research 37(9): 229-250. Numerous studies have shown that the age at which women enter first marriage is a major factor in marital stability. But possible differences by race/ ethnicity have not been examined to date. Our aim was to study whether the association between women’s age at first marriage and marital instability varies by race / ethnicity. We used data from the 2006-2010 National Survey of Family Growth to examine differences by race/ethnicity in the shape of the curve relating women’s age at entry into first marriage to marital instability. We found that for non-Hispanic white women, the probability of dissolution falls with age up to ages 30-32 and thereafter the curve flattens out. For black women, marital instability decreases with age only up to ages 24-26. For Hispanic women, marital instability falls from age ≤20 to 21-23 and then the curve flattens out; beyond ages 30-32 the curve turns upward. We suggest explanations for these patterns based in part on differentials in the associations of age at marriage with education and non-marital fertility. For white women, but not for their black and Hispanic counterparts, delayed entry into marriage is associated with a small increase in non-marital fertility and a pronounced increase in education. “Marital Instability in the United States: Trends, Driving Forces, and Implications for Children” (with Lehrer, Evelyn L.), Oxford Handbook on the Economics of Women, ed. Susan L. Averett, Laura M. Argys and Saul D. Hoffman. (New York: Oxford University Press. Forthcoming)
Working Papers “Overtime Policy and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from South Korea” I examine how changes in overtime policy affect firms and workers by studying the staggered rollout of a 2004-2011 South Korean policy that decreased the overtime threshold from 44 to 40 hours per week. Based on firm-level longitudinal data, I find that firms respond by reducing labor hours and increasing capital intensity. Though this adjustment helps firms to avoid some of the labor cost increase, it remains the case that firm profits fall as a result of the policy. Using longitudinal data on workers, I find heterogeneous treatment effects according to their prior working hours. For those who previously worked 39 hours or less and those who previously worked 40 to 44 hours, the policy increased hours of work and had little impact on base hourly wages; for those who previously worked more than 44 hours per week, it decreased hours of work and increased base hourly wages. In addition to providing direct evidence on a policy-relevant question, this paper informs the broader question of how firms and workers adjust their labor demand and supply in the face of an exogenous change in compensation policy.