We use spatial econometrics on a unique data set covering 229 Korean regions to analyze the outcome of Korea’s 2017 presidential election. We see strong statistical evidence of spatial correlation, suggesting that neighboring regions vote similarly, which is in accord with findings in the international context. Our findings are distinct in that we see little evidence that Korea’s 2017 outcome was driven by the economic disparities between the southeast and the southwest, a highly sensitive political issue in the country. Voters’ region of origin and age are the two most important factors in vote choice, irrespective of the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of their regions.

中文翻译：

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韩国地区主义的变迁与延续

我们对涵盖 229 个韩国地区的独特数据集使用空间计量经济学来分析韩国 2017 年总统大选的结果。我们看到了空间相关性的强有力的统计证据，表明邻近地区的投票方式相似，这与国际背景下的调查结果一致。我们的研究结果与众不同，因为我们几乎没有看到证据表明韩国 2017 年的结果是由东南部和西南部之间的经济差距推动的，这是该国高度敏感的政治问题。选民的原籍地区和年龄是投票选择中最重要的两个因素，无论他们所在地区的社会经济和人口特征如何。