KIHASA has published seven new research monographs, including "International Comparison of COVID-19 Impact and Policy Responses - Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway, the United States, and South Korea." 

• 1.International Comparison of COVID-19 Impact and Policy Responses - Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway, the United States, and South Korea by Kim, Hyeon-Kyeong, et al.
  This study evaluates the effectiveness of COVID-19 policy responses in five major countries―Korea, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Norway―and aims to draw policy implications for future crises. The analysis finds that Korea was particularly vulnerable to employment shocks due to its high concentration of face-to-face service industries, a large share of self-employed workers, and a significant proportion of temporary and daily employment. The impact was especially severe for women. The pandemic revealed structural weaknesses in the Korean labor market and significant gaps in the employment safety net. To address these issues, it is essential to expand the coverage of unemployment benefits and job retention support, and to enhance the inclusiveness and accessibility of family care and sick leave policies in order to ease care burdens. Strengthening social protection for the self-employed and platform workers is also a critical priority.
  
  

• 2.Application of the Population Diversity Index in Measuring Childcare Service Accessibility for Children with Immigrant Backgrounds in South Korea by Choi, Hyejin, et al.
  Using nationality data from the Population Census, this study calculated a township-level “Population Diversity Index.” The migrant-background population is steadily rising and spreading beyond the industrial zones of the Seoul metropolitan area into rural communities, fishing villages, and tourist destinations. Among children aged 0？5 years old, the share of foreign-born youngsters is increasing rapidly, indicating more active family migration and settlement. Access to childcare, however, varies greatly by location. Although declining birth rates have slightly eased overall supply pressures, many neighborhoods with large numbers of foreign or multicultural families still suffer from a clear “high-demand, low-supply” imbalance. Usage rates underline this gap: about 60% for Korean children versus roughly 40% for foreign-born children. Factor analysis shows that additional childcare subsidies from local governments and nearby multicultural or family centers significantly boost enrolment among migrant-background preschoolers. Areas with higher proportions of marriage-migrant households also display higher uptake, underscoring the importance of local networks and information channels. Nevertheless, complicated procedures, Korean-only information, and shortages of interpreters or cultural mediators leave many families under-served. Therefore, beyond expanding facilities and subsidies, integrated policies are needed to improve cultural accessibility and information reach: multilingual guidance with streamlined applications, on-site interpreters and cultural mediators, and culturally responsive teachers and learning materials.
  
  

• 3.A Study on Public Decision-Making Processes for the Protection of Child Abuse Victims by Lee, Juyeon
  This study focuses on the decision-making processes of public child protection workers in local governments. It aims to explore the experiences of these workers and develop measures to improve both the means and the outcomes of their decision-making. To achieve this, this study reviews relevant prior research and theoretical models, examines public child maltreatment response system, and explores child protection workers’ decision-making experiences during various work processes such as intake, substantiation and removal.
  
  

• 4.A Study on the Enhancement and Utilization of Community Social Security Indicators by Park, Seongjun, et al.
  The purpose of this study is to assess the current status of Community Social Security Indicators (CSSIs) and to propose future directions for improving their framework. Through a review of existing practices and indicator structures, the study identifies key management issues and explores strategies for more efficient administration and broader utilization. Based on these findings, it suggests institutional and legal measures to enhance the use of CSSIs and reduce disparities in data use across regions, thereby supporting evidence-based community social security policy.
  
  

• 5.Study on the test of resilience in healthcare systems by Shin, Jeongwoo, et al.
  This study examined the concept of health system resilience and trends in international discussions. Based on the guidebook titled 'A Practical Handbook for Resilience Testing' jointly published by the OECD, EU, and WHO Regional Office for Europe in 2024, it assessed the capacity to respond to infectious disease crises and identified areas for improvement. Additionally, it examined the social, geopolitical, and environmental shocks facing the health sector.
  
  

• 6.A Preliminary Study for Developing a Mid- to Long-Term Analytical Model of Old-Age Poverty by Ryu, Jaerin, et al.
  This study aims to establish a foundational framework for modeling long-term elderly poverty in Korea, where rapid population aging and high elderly poverty rates persist as major social challenges. Recognizing the need for a structured approach to long-term poverty analysis, the study systematically reviews the concepts of poverty, measurement indicators, and analytical methodologies, and examines both macroeconomic and microsimulation modeling approaches. Specifically, the study develops two separate models: a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model to evaluate the macroeconomic effects of social protection reforms, and a dynamic microsimulation model (MSM) to project elderly poverty under different policy scenarios. The DSGE model incorporates endogenous labor supply and includes Korea’s key old-age income security schemes―National Pension, Basic Pension, and Public Assistance. The MSM, based on the KIHASA SIM platform, is refined to simulate elderly poverty dynamics across birth cohorts. While the models are exploratory in scope, they offer a methodological basis for projecting income distribution outcomes and assessing poverty reduction effects of future reforms. The findings underscore the urgency of alleviating poverty among the current elderly population, while also highlighting the need for stronger policy measures such as narrowing the coverage gap in contributory pensions and reinforcing minimum income guarantees. Collectively, these contributions lay a foundation for advancing policy modeling tools that can inform future pension reforms and support effective strategies to reduce elderly poverty.
  
  

• 7.Cash Transfer Programs and Behavioral Change: An Analysis of Policy Effectiveness and Implications by Ha, Solleep, et al.
  Since the economic crisis in the late 1990s, social welfare spending in Korea has increased rapidly, and cash transfer programs have expanded even more swiftly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While Korea’s cash transfer programs were once focused primarily on ensuring the livelihood of vulnerable groups, there has recently been a rise in universal benefit programs aimed at addressing demographic challenges such as low birth rates and population aging. From the perspective of fiscal sustainability, it is now necessary to evaluate the effectiveness and appropriateness of these programs. In particular, while universal benefits such as Child Allowances or Baby Bonus clearly provide additional household income through public transfers at the micro level, it remains unclear whether these programs are achieving their originally intended goals. Against this backdrop, the present study aims to empirically examine whether cash-based welfare programs―such as Baby Bonus, the Child Allowances, and EITC―are meeting their intended objectives. Through this analysis, the study seeks to derive common policy implications for major cash transfer programs.