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In advanced economies FinTech firms are focused on enhancing the efficiency and profitability of financial institutions. Financial inclusion, however, is an important dimension relevant to emerging economies. FinTech can alleviate these difficulties posed by limited access to financial services. Mobile payment services are blooming in China. Chinese users can now use these services to purchase goods and pay bills not only at domestic shops or even street merchants, but also at overseas stores. Equipped with a stable working system, Chinese service providers are trying to expand their territory into nearby countries where payment systems remain underdeveloped. Beginning from the early 2000s, the payment and settlement system of Korea has been re-shaped and reinforced around credit cards, and this transition was made possible due to the well-penetrated banking sector. Still, there is room for further innovation in terms of consumers’ convenience built into a robust payment and settlement system, but regulation reforms should precede for ideas to materialize in this direction.

The trend of deglobalization steadily gained strength after the global financial crisis. One popular explanation of this downturn focuses on rising...

Korean Abstract: 본 연구는 원화 약세 시 평가절상 압박에 대해서 실증적인 근거와 대응논리를 제공하는 한편 원화 강세 시 우리 기업의 수출경쟁력에 미치는 영향을 분석하여 정책방향을 제안하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 우리나라 경상수지는 2000년 이후 대체로 흑자를 기록해왔다. 하지만 경상수지 흑자가 순대외자산의 증가로 바로 이어지지 못했으며, 2014년이 되어서야 순대외자산국이 되었다. 우리나라의 지속적인 경상수지 흑자와 안전하지만 수익성이 낮은 대외자산에 대한 투자는 △기축통화의 보유 여부 △국내금융시장의 발전 정도 △국제금융시장에 대한 접근성 등을 고려한 우리 내국인 투자자의 합리적인 선택에 기인할 것이다. 제2장에서는 대표적인 선행연구인 Chinn and Prasad(2003)를 준용하되 이러한 결정요인을 포함한 실증분석모형을 활용하여 경상수지 결정요인을 분석하였다. 분석 결과에 따르면 국내금융시장이 발달하거나 국제금융시장에 대한 접근성이 개선될수록 경상수지 흑자유인이 감소하는 것으로 나타났다. 따라서 국제금융시장 접근성 등의 결정요인을 고려하지 않을 경우 경상수지 갭(실제 경상수지-적정 경상수지)은 과대평가될 수 있다. 우리 분석 결과는 국내금융시장이 발전하거나 국제금융시장에 대한 접근성이 강화되면 경상수지 불균형은 장기적·구조적 관점에서 점차 완화될 것이라고 해석될 수 있다. 하지만 IMF와 미국 재무부의 대외부문에 대한 보고서에서는 일국의 경상수지 불균형을 인위적인 정책개입을 통한 시장 왜곡의 결과로 해석하기도 한다. 다행히 이들의 최근 보고서에 따르면 우리나라의 경상수지와 환율이 기초경제여건(fundamental)과 대체로 일치하고 우리 정책당국의 외환시장개입 역시 무질서한 시장상황을 개선하기 위해서 양방향으로 제한적으로 이루어지고 있다고 평가했다. 하지만 향후 우리 원화에 대한 평가절상 압박이 고조되는 상황이 예상치 못하게 발생할 수 있다. 따라서 환율 평가절상 압박에 대응하는 논리를 더욱 탄탄하게 하기 위해서 우리나라의 외환시장개입 정책이 환율에 제한적인 영향을 미친다는 것을 실증적으로 보여줄 필요가 있다. 제3장은 통화 정책과 외환시장개입 정책, 두 가지 정책을 모형에 명시적으로 포함하여 환율에 미치는 영향을 분석했다. 분석 결과에 따르면 외환시장개입 정책은 통계적으로 유의한 영향을 미치고 있기는 하지만, 그 영향은 단기적이었으며 실증분석 방법을 다양하게 변형해도 결과는 대체로 강건한 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 분석 결과는 외환시장개입 정책이 환율을 일시적으로 안정화시키는 효과는 있지만 환율 수준이나 장기적인 추세 자체를 변화시킬 수는 없다는 것을 의미한다. 더 나아가 외환시장개입 정책이 구조적으로는 환율에 제한적인 영향만을 미치고 있다면 환율 결정요인을 실증적으로 식별하는 것도 환율 압박에 대한 대응 차원에서 유용할 것이다. 이미 많은 연구에서 기존의 환율 결정 이론에서 예측하는 것과는 대조적으로 두 국가 간 환율과 양국의 기초경제여건(fundamental) 간의 약한 상관관계를 지적해왔다. 제4장에서는 많은 국가의 환율 동조화(co- movement) 현상을 바탕으로 환율 움직임의 공통요인을 추출하는 최근의 분석모형을 확장하여, 금융 및 무역변수를 활용해서 환율 결정요인을 살펴보았다. 분석 결과는 다음과 같이 요약할 수 있다. 첫째, 기존 연구와 유사하게 개별 환율에 대한 달러화의 영향력은 상당히 큰 것으로 나타났다. 다만 개별 환율이 달러 요인에 대한 얼마나 민감하게 반응하는가는 국가별로 차이가 있었으며, 그 민감도는 개별 국가의 자본유출입과 글로벌 금융사이클 간의 유사성과는 상당히 연관되어 있었지만, 무역변수들과의 연관성은 뚜렷이 관찰되지 않았다. 둘째, 대다수 국가의 환율에서 위안화 요인은 통계적으로 유의하지 않은 반면에 우리나라의 경우 위안화 요인에 대한 원화 환율의 반응은 통계적으로 유의했다. 특히 위안화 요인은 원화 변동성의 10% 정도를 설명했으며, 원화 환율과 위안화 환율 간의 동조화 현상도 관찰할 수 있었다. 이상의 분석 결과는 환율 평가절상 압박에 대한 대응을 위한 실증적 근거를 제공한다는 점에서 정책적 의의가 있다. 한편 환율 변화가 우리 경제에 미치는 영향을 실증분석하는 것은 또 다른 정책적 의의가 있을 것이다. 특히 원화 강세 압력이 당분간 지속될 것으로 예상되는 최근의 상황을 감안할 때 환율이 우리 수출경쟁력에 미치는 영향은 점검할 필요가 있을 것이다. 제5장에서는 환율 변화가 우리 수출기업에 미치는 영향을 수출기업에 대한 우리나라 통계청의 미시자료를 활용하여 살펴보았다. 과거의 연구와 차별화된 점은 분석대상 기업을 자본액, 매출액 등 규모를 기준으로 분류하여 환율 변화의 기업활동 관련 변수 간 상관관계가 규모별로 어떻게 달라지는가를 분석했다는 것이다. 분석 결과 원화 강세가 지속될 경우 규모가 작은 수출기업의 수출, 수익성, 투자, 부가가치 등에 대한 부정적인 영향이 규모가 큰 수출기업에 비해서 보다 뚜렷하게 관찰되었다. 또한 원화 강세로 인한 부정적인 충격에 대해서 규모별 기업 간의 요소소득 중에서는 규모가 작은 수출기업의 자본소득이 가장 민감한 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 분석 결과를 토대로 중소 수출기업의 수출지원 강화가 중요하며 이를 위해서는 시장정보 제공 강화, 정책금융과 무역보험의 역할 재정립에 주목할 필요가 있을 것이다. 또한 노동과 자본의 신속한 조정 지원을 위한 무역조정 지원제도의 개선방향에 대해서도 논의가 필요한 시점이다. English Abstract: The goal of this study is twofold. On the one hand, when the Korean won is weak, we provide an empirical basis and response logic to the pressure of appreciation. On the other hand, when the won is strong, we analyze the effect of the exchange rate on the competitiveness of Korean exporting firms, thereby providing relevant policy directions. Korea’s current account has generally maintained a surplus since 2000. However, the current account surplus did not immediately lead to an increase in net foreign assets. Indeed, Korea has become a net foreign asset country only since 2014. Korea’s continuous current account surplus and investment in safe but low-return foreign assets can be attributed to the rational choice of Korean investors who take into account that Korea has traditionally been a country with certain characteristics (e.g. the absence of a key currency, relatively less developed domestic financial market, and low accessibility to the international financial market). In Chapter 2, building on the important study by Chinn and Parasad (2003) and considering these additional determinants, we empirically analyze the determinants of current account. Our analysis shows that the more the domestic financial market develops or the access to the international financial market improves, the less the current account surplus tends to be. Therefore, for example, if accessibility to international financial markets is not taken into account, the current account gap—actual current account net of appropriate current account—can be overestimated. Our results imply that if the domestic financial market develops or access to the international financial market is strengthened, the current account imbalance will decline gradually in the long run. However, in reports on external statements of the IMF and the US Treasury Department, a country’s current account imbalance is occasionally interpreted as a sign of market distortions that stem from the foreign exchange interventions. Fortunately, according to their recent report, these institutions have assessed that Korea’s current account and exchange rate are generally consistent with economic fundamentals, and that, if any, the Korean policy authorities’ foreign exchange interventions are conducted in both directions to improve the disordered market situation. Nevertheless, in the future, pressures for appreciation of the Korean won will increase. Therefore, it is necessary to show empirically that Korea’s foreign exchange market intervention policy has a limited effect on the exchange rate in order to further reinforce the logic of responding to the pressure of exchange rate appreciation. In Chapter 3 we analyze the impact on exchange rates by explicitly considering the interaction of two policies—monetary policy and foreign exchange market intervention policy—in the model. Our main result is that the foreign exchange interventions have a statistically significant effect only in the short term. We also show that the result is robust even if we use alternative empirical methods. The results imply that the foreign exchange interventions could temporarily stabilize the exchange rate, but could not change the exchange rate level or the long-term trend. Furthermore, if the foreign exchange interventions are structurally only having a limited effect on the exchange rate, in order to address the pressure to appreciation the value of the Korean won, it will be useful to empirically identify the factors that determine the exchange rate. The recent empirical studies have already pointed out a weak correlation between the exchange rate between two countries and the economic fundamentals of the two countries, which is as opposed to the predictions of previous theoretical studies. In Chapter 4, observing the co-movement of the exchange rates of many countries, we extract common factors of exchange rate movement and empirically analyze the determinants of exchange rates, using financial and trade variables. First, we find that the dollar’s influence on individual exchange rates is found to be quite large. However, the sensitivity of individual exchange rates to dollar factors differed from country to country, and the sensitivity is highly related to the similarity between the capital inflow and outflow of individual countries and the global financial cycle, but the association with trade variables was not clearly observed. Second, in the exchange rate of most countries, the yuan factor is not statistically significant, whereas in Korea, the response of the won to the yuan is statistically significant. In particular, the yuan factor explains about 10% of the volatility of the won, and we observe a co-movement between the won and the yuan. Our above results are of policy significance in that they provide an empirical basis when addressing the pressure to appreciate the won. Meanwhile, an analysis of the effect of exchange rate changes on the Korean economy will have another policy significance. In particular, given the recent situation where the won’s appreciation pressure is expected to persist for the time being, it is necessary to examine the impact of the exchange rate on the competitiveness of the Korean exporting firms. In Chapter 5, we empirically analyze the effect of exchange rate changes on Korean export companies, using microdata on export companies. What differentiates this study from previous studies is that we classify the exporting companies based on size such as capital amount and sales, thereby analyzing how the correlation between exchange rate and the variables related to these companies’ business activities would vary by size. We find that if the won continues to be strong, the negative impact on exports, profitability, investment, and added value of small exporting companies is more pronounced than those of large exporting companies. In addition, we also find that in response to the negative effects caused by the won appreciation, the capital income of small exporting companies is the most sensitive among the factor incomes. Based on our results, we conclude that to strengthen export support for SMEs, it is necessary to pay attention to strengthening the provision of market information and re-establishing the roles of policy finance and trade insurance. In addition, it is a high time to discuss the direction of improvement of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program to support rapid adjustment of labor and capital.

Background This study intended to find out how association between response time interval (RTI) and good neurological outcome is affected by bystander CPR. We hypothesized that bystander CPR will ensure positive effect in relationship between RTI and clinical outcome. Methods A retrospective, observational study was made with Pan-Asian Resuscitation Outcome Study data from January 2009 to December 2016. Six cities from four Asian countries were selected. EMS-treated, non-traumatic witnessed out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) cases were included. General demographic data, prehospital cardiac arrest details and clinical outcome were collected and analyzed according to whether bystander CPR was performed. Good neurological outcome and survival discharge were primary and secondary outcomes. Results A total of 13,245 OHCA cases were analyzed. Median EMS response time intervals were 6 min, regardless of bystander CPR. Dividing into RTI time range by 3 min, good neurological outcome and survival discharge were only significant in 3 to 6 minutes group (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.42, 1.17–1.73 95% confidence interval [CI] and AOR 1.31, 1.15–1.51 95% CI) in non-bystander CPR group but in bystander CPR group significant RTI time range was 3 to 9 min (AOR 2.02, 1.82, 1.62–2.52, 1.48–2.25 95% CI for primary, AOR 1.66, 1.43, 1.41–1.96, 1.22–1.67 95% CI for secondary). Conclusions As response time interval increased, slower deterioration of good neurological outcome and survival discharge was shown in cardiac arrest patients with bystander CPR performed. If bystander CPR is provided, RTI time range showing significant neurological outcome and survival improvement seems to be relatively lengthened.

The purpose of this study was to validate the Korean version of the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory. With 56 items of Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory(ZTPI) adapted through translation and back-translation, exploratory factor analyses were conducted on the sample of 300 Korean employees. Results of exploratory factor analyses showed that five factors with 25 items were obtained. The Inventory was composed of past positive 6 items, past negative 3 items, present hedonistic 4 items, present fatalistic 5 items, and future 7 items. For further validation of the scale, data were obtained from 204 Korean employees. The result of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the 5 factor model was adequate. Also results of correlational analyses showed that the five factors were generally significantly correlated with various criteria such as life satisfaction, anxiety, and depression, confirming criterion-related validity. Finally, implications and limitations of the study were discussed.

Supply chain integration is widely used by both practitioners and researchers, because of an essential role to enhance competitive advantage in supply chain. Organizational competences, such as relational competence(RC) and information technology (IT) competence, have been recognized as influencing factors to promote supply chain integration (SCI) for obtaining supply chain performance. In this paper, we intend to extend the stream of research in supply chain management (SCM) by systematically identifying the antecedents and consequences of supply chain integration between supply chain partners. We empirically tested the research model using data collected from senior managers of 122 manufacturing firms in South Korea. The results indicate that relational competence and IT competence in supply chain are positively related to supply chain integration. Information exchange is directly related to supply chain performance, Also, it has the positive impact between organizational competences and supply chain performance through its positive effect on supply chain integration. Our results provide strong support for the notion of information exchange and supply chain integration to enhance supply chain performance. Implications for future research and practice are offered.

We investigated the feeding preferences of the White-cheeked Starling Spodiopsar cineraceus in Korean village groves during the breeding season by means of a fecal dietary analysis using a non-invasive molecular approach. A total of 529 fecal samples were collected from four different study sites, 113 of them (21.4% of all fecal samples) were identified as those of S. cineraceus. Analysis showed that the starling's diet mostly consisted of animal matter (64.5%), but also contained vegetable matter (32.7%). Terrestrial prey, such as insects and spiders, constituted the largest proportion (65.2%) of species in the diet, although aquatic organisms (26.1%) were also important. Most of the seeds detected in feces were of mulberries, with detection rates rising to 68.1% by the end of May and remaining high until mid-June. Our results suggest that higher water levels in paddy fields due to irrigation could potentially act as an impediment to bird feeding, particularly for small birds such as S. cinerace...

OBJECTIVE The incidences of prehospital advanced airway management by emergency medical technicians in South Korea are increasing; however, whether this procedure improves the survival outcomes of patients experiencing out-of-hospital cardiac arrest remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the association between prehospital advanced airway management and neurologic outcomes according to a transport time interval (TTI) using the Korean Cardiac Arrest Research Consortium database. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed the favorable database entries that were prospectively collected between October 2015 and December 2016. Patients aged 18 years or older who experienced cardiac arrest that was presumed to be of a medical etiology and that occurred prior to the arrival of emergency medical service personnel were included. The exposure variable was the type of prehospital airway management provided by emergency medical technicians. The primary endpoint was a favorable neurologic outcome. RESULTS Of 1,871 patients who experienced out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, 785 (42.0%), 121 (6.5%), and 965 (51.6%) were managed with bag-valve-mask ventilation, endotracheal intubation (ETI), and supraglottic airway (SGA) devices, respectively. SGAs and ETI provided no advantage in terms of favorable neurologic outcome in patients with TTIs ≥12 minutes (odds ratio [OR], 1.37; confidence interval [CI], 0.65-2.87 for SGAs; OR, 1.31; CI, 0.30-5.81 for ETI) or in patients with TTI

Background Recovery after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is difficult, and emergency medical services (EMS) systems apply various strategies to improve outcomes. Multi-dispatch is one means of providing high-quality cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), but no definitive best-operation guidelines are available. We assessed the effects of a basic life support (BLS)-based dual-dispatch system for OHCA. Methods This prospective observational study of 898 enrolled OHCA patients, conducted in Daegu, Korea from March 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016, involved patients > 18 years old with suspected cardiac etiology OHCA. In Daegu, EMS started a BLS-based dual-dispatch system in March 2015, for cases of cardiac arrest recognition by a dispatch center. We assessed the association between dual-dispatch and OHCA outcomes using multivariate logistic regressions. We also analyzed the effect of dual-dispatch according to the stratified on-scene time. Results Of 898 OHCA patients (median, 69.0 years; 65.5% men), dual-dispatch was applied in 480 (53.5%) patients. There was no difference between the single-dispatch group (SDG) and the dual-dispatch group (DDG) in survival at discharge and neurological outcomes (survival discharge, P = 0.176; neurological outcomes, P = 0.345). In the case of less than 10 minutes of on-scene time, the adjusted odds ratio was 1.749 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.490–6.246) for survival discharge and 6.058 (95% CI, 1.346–27.277) for favorable neurological outcomes in the DDG compared with the SDG. Conclusion Dual-dispatch was not associated with better OHCA outcomes for the entire study population, but showed favorable neurological outcomes when the on-scene time was less than 10 minutes., Graphical Abstract

Purpose: Work-related eye injuries have been reported with a variety of epidemiologic and clinical characteristics. We aimed to identify epidemiologic characteristics of work-related eye injuries and risk factors associated with severe injury in a large metropolitan city. Methods: This multicentre, retrospective, observational study used a prospective eye injury registry. We included patients with work-related eye injuries at four tertiary teaching hospitals in Daegu, South Korea, between August 2016 and July 2018. Severe injuries were defined as subjects fulfilled one or more of the following criteria: 1) presented with open globe injury; 2) required emergency eye surgery or observation after hospitalization; 3) developed eye injury-associated complications or 4) impaired final visual acuity. Results: The study included 1,424 patients. One hundred seventy-three patients (12.1%) had severe injuries. The median age and interquartile range (IQR; 25th and 75th percentiles) of the subjects were 48.0 years (IQR, 36.0–57.0), and the majority (91.9%) were male. Among the subjects, 61 patients (4.2%) suffered eye injuries despite the use of protective eyewear at the time of injury. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed age ≥70 years (odds ratio: 4.02, 95% confidence interval: 1.77–9.15), hammering/nailing (6.80, 2.80–16.53), and mowing (4.87, 1.77–9.15) as activities that conferred a high risk of ocular trauma with severe injury. Conclusion: Age over 70 years, hammering/nailing, and mowing were risk factors for severe injury from work-related ocular trauma. Severe eye injury could occur in spite of the use of protective eyewear; appropriate, well-fitting protective eyewear should be emphasized in the future.

Additional file 1: Table S1. Primers used in the present study [Akmali et al. 2015; Irwin et al. 1991; and Vrijenhoek 1994]. Table S2. Slatkin’s linearized FST for COI (above the diagonal) and for Cytb (below the diagonal) across four populations of Myotis ikonnikovi in Korea.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to show the epidemiological characteristics and the difference in the risk factors and types of collision between older and younger drivers in Korea.MethodsWe collected data from the Emergency Department-based Injury In-depth Surveillance retrieved by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 2011 to 2015. We included injured drivers aged ≥ 18 years who were registered in the database, who were limited to drivers of four-wheeled vehicles. The enrolled patients were divided according to age into older (≥ 65 years) and younger (< 65 years) drivers. The total number of enrolled drivers was 37,511; 2,361 (6.3%) of them were older drivers. The epidemiological characteristics (e.g., age, sex, fatality rate) of traffic collision victims for 5 years were determined, and the risk factors (e.g., seat belt use) and types of collision (single- vs. multi-vehicle) between the two groups were compared.ResultsThe median age and interquartile range (IQR; 25th and 75th percentiles) of all drivers were 41.0 (IQR, 32.0-52.0), and 24,544 (65.4%) of them were men. The median age increased from 40.0 (IQR, 31.0-50.0) to 43.0 (IQR, 33.0-54.0) between 2010 and 2015 (P < 0.001). The proportion of older drivers increased from 5.0% to 8.4% annually during the study period (P < 0.001). Between 2010 and 2015, the fatality rate decreased from 3.1% to 1.2% (P = 0.287) for older drivers and from 0.9% to 0.5% (P = 0.009) for younger drivers. The proportion of single-vehicle collision (25.9% vs. 20.3%) was higher in older than in younger drivers (P < 0.001). Older drivers had a lower rate of seat-belt use than younger drivers (79.0% vs. 83.0%, P < 0.001).ConclusionsThe proportion of older drivers increased annually during the study period, and older drivers experienced more single-vehicle collision and used seat belt less frequently than younger drivers. A national policy support to reduce traffic collision in older drivers and public relation activities to enhance their seat belt use should be strengthened in the future.