The efficacy and efficiency of public transfer programmes on the poverty of the older population in South Korea

The Korean government initiated a multi-tiered benefits system for older people, but the relative poverty rate of the older population remains the highest among developed economies. This paper employed the Shapley decomposition and four efficiency criteria to evaluate the anti-poverty efficacy and efficiency of major public transfer benefits with the Korea Welfare Panel Study 2006–2018. The results present that the Korean public pension exerted the greatest efficacy among the programmes. The efficacy of the Basic Pension, operating as a means-tested benefit, significantly increased when implemented in 2008 and expanded in 2014. In terms of efficiency, the contributory public pension supported only 40% of older adults in poverty. However, the generous coverage of the Basic Pension since 2008 might have led to more than half of recipients not experiencing absolute poverty. Therefore, this paper concludes with suggestions for more financial support targeting the economically vulnerable.