Research

The main themes of my projects include (1) public pensions and old-age inequality, (2) inequalities in late working lives and retirement transitions, (3) pension wealth inequality, and (4) low fertility and work-family reconciliation policies. My doctoral thesis can be openly accessed through Oxford University Research Archive. For transparency and reproducibility of research, I intend to share replication files for all my studies once they are published. This page is being updated accordingly.

1. Public Pensions and Old-age Inequality

Publications

Lee, K. (2024). ‘Varying Effects of Public Pensions: Pension Spending and Old-age Employment under Different Pension Regimes’, Journal of European Social Policy link replication files

Lee, K. (2022). ‘Old-age Poverty in a Pension Latecomer: The Impact of Basic Pension Expansions in South Korea’, Social Policy & Administration, 56(7), 1022-1040. link replication files

Working Papers

A Mandatory Pension Scheme? Late-Stage dropouts from the National Pension System in South Korea (with Jongseok Oh & Seho Son) link

Projects under development

The Political Economy of Pension Reforms in South Korea: Evidence from Survey Experiment (with Dong-kyun Im)

2. Inequalities in Late Working Lives

Publications

Kuitto, K. & Lee, K. (in press). ‘How to make extending working lives in ageing welfare states socially sustainable’, in M. Vaalavuo, K. Nelson & K. Kuitto (eds.), Social Sustainability in Ageing Welfare States, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.

Ebbinghaus, B. & Lee, K. (2023). ‘From early retirement to later exit from work: shifting towards active ageing’, in Daniel Clegg & Niccolo Durazzi (eds.), Handbook of Labour Market Policy in Advanced Democracies, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar. link

Working Papers

Old and new welfare states retaining older workers in the face of crisis: The case of COVID-19 in Europe (single author, Revise & Resubmit).

Convergence or continued stratification? Retirement trajectories and late working lives in Germany, 1976-2019 (with Bernhard Ebbinghaus, Revise & Resubmit)

3. Pensions and Wealth Inequality

Working Papers

Digitalization, workers’ anxiety, and pension savings behavior (with Ludivine Martin & Thuc-Uyen Nguyen-Thi)

Projects under development

Pension Systems and Wealth Inequality in Old Age: Revisiting the Paradox of Redistribution Thesis (with Javier Olivera and Philippe Van Kerm)

4. Social Policy, Work-Family Arrangements, and Low Fertility

Publications

Lee, K. & Zaidi, A. (2020). ‘How Policy Configurations Matter: a critical look into pro-natal policy in South Korea based on a gender and family framework’, International Journal of Sociology & Social Policy, 40(7/8), 589-606. link

Working Papers

Context matters: The role of family policy in shaping fertility and women’s labor force participation across OECD countries (with Eunho Cha & Stacie Tao) replication files

Projects under development

Couples’ allocation of paid and unpaid work and perceived gender equity in South Korea (with Keon Kim)