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A Spatial Approach to Inequality of Opportunity and its Implications for Balanced Regional Development Policy

Author

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  • Jinyoung Jung

    (Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade)

Abstract

Demands for fairness of opportunity (especially among those born since the 1990s) have made equality of opportunity a central social challenge in South Korea. This paper examines spatial inequality as a source of that concern. Drawing on the Survey of Household Finances and Living Conditions (SHFLC) and 26 waves of the Korea Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS), it finds that gaps between the Seoul Capital Area (SCA) and the rest of the country have widened since the mid-2010s in both household income and the distribution of income classes. These gaps shape the environments in which children grow up and condition how parental economic position is transmitted to the next generation: among cohorts born after 1975, the advantage of growing up in the SCA is larger for children of higher-income parents. National indicators of income distribution have improved, yet inequality of opportunity persists and is channeled through space.

Suggested Citation

  • Jinyoung Jung, 2026. "A Spatial Approach to Inequality of Opportunity and its Implications for Balanced Regional Development Policy," Industrial Economic Review 023847, Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:kieter:023847
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    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • R12 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity; Interregional Trade (economic geography)

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