Journal Archive

Home > Journal Archive
Cover Image
  • P-ISSN 2586-2995
  • E-ISSN 2586-4130
Cite

KDI Journal of Economic Policy. Vol. 48, No. 1, February 2026, pp. 125-152

https://doi.org/10.23895/kdijep.2026.48.1.125

× KDI Open Access is a program of fully open access journals to facilitate the widest possible dissemination of high-quality research. All research articles published in KDI JEP are immediately, permanently and freely available online for everyone to read, download and share in terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Population Aging and Living Arrangements: Implications on Inequality

SANG-HYOP LEE; ANDREW MASON; HYUN KYUNG (Corresponding Author) KIM

Author & Article History

Manuscript received 05 June 2025; revision received 11 June 2025; accepted 22 October 2025.

Abstract

Many previous studies conclude that population aging leads to an increase in consumption or income inequality. The results are based on a conventional model that analyzes compositional effects given interage differences in the means and variances of income. These issues are addressed in this paper by (1) developing a new empirical strategy for estimating the effects of population aging, income, and other socio-economic variables on living arrangements; (2) extending the standard model of income inequality to incorporate responses in relation to one aspect of the familial support system – the formation of multi-generational households (or extended households); and (3) applying the models to South Korea, where familial support has been important source of consumption for older people. In particular, this paper complements previous studies by incorporating the responses of familial support systems to changes in the age distribution of the population. Our model and empirical results suggest that (1) population aging could have led to a greater increase in the proportion living in extended households, but improvements in survival have had a weaker effect than the fertility decline on the proportion of people living in extended households, (2) higher incomes of workers in Korea could have led to more of a shift away from extended households, and (3) an increase in both the proportion of the family cohort and the proportion of pensioners living in extended households reduces the variance in income. These results support the argument that co-residence and population aging may reduce income inequality.

Keywords

Population aging, Living arrangement, Extended household Income inequality, Private transfers

JEL Code

J11, J14, J18

상단으로 이동

KDIJEP