The goal of this study was to examine the effect of a social pension programme for older adults in South Korea, Basic Pension Scheme (BPS) on material hardship and subjective well-being. We apply a regression discontinuity design (RDD) to estimate the effect of the BPS on the material hardship and life satisfaction of older people between the ages of sixty-one and sixty-eight. Data come from Korea Welfare Panel Study (KOWEPS) wave 12 survey (2017, N = 3,932). The BPS benefit reduces the risks of housing hardship, bill payment delay and food insecurity. Interestingly, while the effect sizes of the BPS on mitigating the material hardship increase as income decreases, the lower-income groups were less satisfied with the pension provision than middle- and upper-income groups. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on material hardship for older adults in an Asian country facing persistent old-age poverty and immature public pensions.

中文翻译：

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社会养老金对韩国老年人物质困难的影响：回归断点估计

本研究的目的是检验韩国老年人社会养老金计划、基本养老金计划 (BPS) 对物质困难和主观幸福感的影响。我们应用断点回归设计 (RDD) 来估计 BPS 对 61 至 68 岁老年人的物质困难和生活满意度的影响。数据来自韩国福利小组研究 (KOWEPS) 第 12 轮调查（2017 年，N = 3,932）。BPS 福利降低了住房困难、账单支付延迟和食品不安全的风险。有趣的是，虽然 BPS 在减轻物质困难方面的效果随着收入的减少而增加，但低收入群体对养老金提供的满意度低于中高收入群体。