IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v367y2025ics0277953625001200.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social pension expansion and suicidal behaviour of older adults in Korea: A quasi-experimental study

Author

Listed:
  • Kim, Chungah

Abstract

This study examines the effects of a significant reform to South Korea's social pension system—the introduction of the Basic Pension (BP) in July 2014—on suicidal behavior among older adults. We utilized data from the Korean Welfare Panel Study (2011–2021) to evaluate whether this reform has helped reduce suicidal behavior among BP beneficiaries compared to non-beneficiaries. Employing the Callaway and Sant’Anna Difference-in-Differences (CSDID) approach for a robust analysis, our findings report a significant reduction in suicidal behavior, particularly among women, with an overall reduction of 1.3%. The study highlights the policy effect of the BP in enhancing the economic and mental health stability of older adults, demonstrating the effectiveness of a generous old-age income security program in mitigating factors that contribute to high suicide mortality. These insights are crucial for policymakers aiming to strengthen the welfare state and improve public health outcomes in similar contexts globally.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim, Chungah, 2025. "Social pension expansion and suicidal behaviour of older adults in Korea: A quasi-experimental study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 367(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:367:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625001200
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117791
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625001200
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117791?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hamermesh, Daniel S & Soss, Neal M, 1974. "An Economic Theory of Suicide," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 83-98, Jan.-Feb..
    2. Pak, Tae-Young, 2021. "What are the effects of expanding social pension on health? Evidence from the Basic Pension in South Korea," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    3. Callaway, Brantly & Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C., 2021. "Difference-in-Differences with multiple time periods," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 225(2), pages 200-230.
    4. Chen, Xi & Wang, Tianyu & Busch, Susan H., 2019. "Does money relieve depression? Evidence from social pension expansions in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 411-420.
    5. Seungho LeeMA & Inhoe KuPhD & Byongdon ShonPhD, 2019. "The Effects of Old-Age Public Transfer on the Well-Being of Older Adults: The Case of Social Pension in South Korea," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 74(3), pages 506-515.
    6. Mi‐young An, 2009. "The gender impact of National Pension reforms in the Republic of Korea," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 62(2), pages 77-99, April.
    7. J.C. Herbert Emery & Jesse A. Matheson, 2012. "Should income transfers be targeted or universal? Insights from public pension influences on elderly mortality in Canada, 1921–1966," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(1), pages 247-269, February.
    8. Xin Gao & Tieying Feng, 2020. "Public Pension, Labor Force Participation, and Depressive Symptoms across Gender among Older Adults in Rural China: A Moderated Mediation Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-13, May.
    9. Bongoh Kye & Yool Choi, 2021. "Are parents and children coresiding less than before? An analysis of intergenerational coresidence in South Korea, 1980–2015," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 45(1), pages 1-16.
    10. Kim, Myoung-Hee & Jung-Choi, Kyunghee & Jun, Hee-Jin & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2010. "Socioeconomic inequalities in suicidal ideation, parasuicides, and completed suicides in South Korea," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(8), pages 1254-1261, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eiji Yamamura, 2015. "Comparison of Social Capital's Effect on Consideration of Suicide between Urban and Rural Areas," ISER Discussion Paper 0933, Institute of Social and Economic Research, The University of Osaka.
    2. Sipei Xu & Jia Zhang, 2022. "Do Social Pensions Affect the Physical and Mental Health of Rural Children in China? An Intergenerational Care Perspective," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-25, March.
    3. Kim, Daniel Sungyeon & Lee, Jaeyoon & Choi, Bong-Geun, 2022. "Credit supply and household long-term well-being: Evidence from banking deregulation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    4. Guimbeau, Amanda & Menon, Nidhiya, 2024. "Pensions and Depression: Gender-Disaggregated Evidence from the Elderly Poor in India," IZA Discussion Papers 17530, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Yamamura, Eiji, 2015. "Comparison of Social Trust's effect on suicide ideation between urban and non-urban areas: The Case of Japanese Adults in 2006," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 118-126.
    6. Halla, Martin & Schmidpeter, Bernhard, 2024. "Werther at Work: Intra-Firm Spillovers of Suicides," IZA Discussion Papers 17580, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Florin Cornel DUMITER & Ștefania Amalia NICOARĂ & Marius BOIȚĂ & Erika LOUČANOVÁ & Katarina Repkova STOFKOVA, 2024. "Empirical Study Regarding the Central and Eastern European Countries’ Soundness of Pension Systems. Triangle Assessment: Social, Economic, and Financial Features of Pension Systems," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(4), pages 105-127, December.
    8. Daniel I. Rees & Joseph J. Sabia & Gokhan Kumpas, 2022. "Anti‐Bullying Laws and Suicidal Behaviors Among Teenagers," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(3), pages 787-823, June.
    9. Bas Scheer & Wiljan van den Berge & Maarten Goos & Alan Manning & Anna Salomons, 2022. "Alternative Work Arrangements and Worker Outcomes: Evidence from Payrolling," CPB Discussion Paper 435, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    10. Ichev, Riste & Valentinčič, Aljoša, 2025. "The effect of impact investing on performance of private firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    11. Mac Clay, Pablo & Börner, Jan & Sellare, Jorge, 2023. "Institutional and macroeconomic stability mediate the effect of auctions on renewable energy capacity," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    12. Diegmann, André & Pohlan, Laura & Weber, Andrea, 2024. "Do Politicians Affect Firm Outcomes? Evidence from Connections to the German Federal Parliament," IZA Discussion Papers 17031, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Alex Hollingsworth & Krzysztof Karbownik & Melissa A. Thomasson & Anthony Wray, 2024. "The Gift of a Lifetime: The Hospital, Modern Medicine, and Mortality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(7), pages 2201-2238, July.
    14. Sascha O. Becker & Ludger Woessmann, 2018. "Social Cohesion, Religious Beliefs, and the Effect of Protestantism on Suicide," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(3), pages 377-391, July.
    15. Randall Akee & Maggie R. Jones & Emilia Simeonova, 2025. "Place Based Economic Development and Tribal Casinos," Working Papers 25-24, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    16. Catalina Amuedo‐Dorantes & Francisca M. Antman, 2022. "De facto immigration enforcement, ICE raid awareness, and worker engagement," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(1), pages 373-391, January.
    17. Ricardo Dahis & Christiane Szerman, 2023. "Decentralizing Development: Evidence from Government Splits," Monash Economics Working Papers 2023-18, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    18. Anderson, D. Mark & Liang, Yang & Sabia, Joseph J., 2022. "Mandatory Seatbelt Laws and Traffic Fatalities: A Reassessment," IZA Discussion Papers 15843, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Sant’Anna, Pedro H.C. & Zhao, Jun, 2020. "Doubly robust difference-in-differences estimators," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 219(1), pages 101-122.
    20. Andrés, Antonio R. & Halicioglu, Ferda, 2010. "Determinants of suicides in Denmark: Evidence from time series data," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(2-3), pages 263-269, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:367:y:2025:i:c:s0277953625001200. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.