KDI Journal of Economic Policy

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P-ISSN 2586-2995
E-ISSN 2586-4130

Vol.48, No.1

Cite

KDI Journal of Economic Policy. Vol. 48, No. 1, February 2026, pp. 63-94

https://doi.org/10.23895/kdijep.2026.48.1.63

× 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.

Marriage and Child Penalties: Evidence from South Korea

MINSUB KIM

Author & Article History

Manuscript received 05 June 2025; revision received 12 June 2025; accepted 14 October 2025.

Abstract

This paper documents marriage and child penalties in Korea, where the female labor supply remains constrained by marriage and childbirth despite the urgent need to promote the female labor supply in the face of the world’s most rapidly aging population. Using an event-study approach and nationally representative panel data, I find substantial marriage and child penalties in Korea. Unlike developed countries, Korea exhibits a significant marriage penalty that cannot be explained by childbirth-related factors. While marriage penalties declined during the 2010s, child penalties have prevailed despite the expansion of various family policies over the same period. The persistence of child penalties is discussed in relation to prevailing social norms and rigid labor market structures that limit mothers’ labor supply.

Keywords

Marriage penalty, Child penalty, Gender inequality, Labor market outcomes

JEL Code

J13, J16, J22

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