Peer-Reviewed Journals (SSCI/SCI) 9 papers
Remote Work and the Bargaining Power of Union Workers Before and After COVID-19
Min Sun Park and Jungtaek Lee
Applied Economics Letters, 2025 (In Press) SSCI
Examines how the COVID-19 pandemic altered the relationship between union power and remote work arrangements, analyzing whether unions effectively leveraged remote work as a bargaining outcome during and after the crisis.
Labor Economics
Remote Work and Psychological Distress Across Gender, Age, and Employment Sector
Jaehee Jong and Jungtaek Lee
International Journal of Organization Theory & Behavior, 2024, Vol. 27(4), pp. 359–378 SSCI
Using 76,845 observations from the Understanding America Study (2020–2021), finds that remote work is associated with psychological distress, with heterogeneous effects: stronger for workers aged 30+ and those in nonprofit/private sectors, but not significant for younger or government workers.
Labor Economics
Health Economics
Age-Specific Changes in the Effects of Social Connectedness and Loneliness on Depressive Symptoms: Evidence from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Juyeon Kim and Jungtaek Lee
Psychiatry Investigation, 2024, Vol. 21(5), pp. 475–486 SSCI
Reveals that loneliness has a substantially larger impact on depression than social disconnection across age groups. Middle-aged adults (45–64) experienced heightened depressive symptoms during COVID-19, while the oldest group (75+) saw reduced depression despite decreased social interaction.
Social Connectedness
Effects of Private Health Insurance on Healthcare Services During the MERS Pandemic: Evidence from Korea
Jungtaek Lee
Heliyon, 2023, Vol. 9(12), e22241 SCI
Investigates whether private health insurance coverage influenced healthcare service utilization during the 2015 MERS outbreak in Korea, providing evidence on the role of supplementary insurance during pandemic-driven healthcare disruptions.
Health Economics
The Effect of Vaccination on Social Isolation During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Jungtaek Lee
Applied Economics Letters, 2023, Vol. 30(15), pp. 1987–1994 SSCI
Using data from 6,049 individuals in the Understanding America Study, finds that vaccination increased in-person contact with family/friends by ~2 percentage points and reduced loneliness by ~1 percentage point.
Social Connectedness
Health Economics
Social Connectedness and Cognitive Function Before and During COVID-19: A Longitudinal Study of Korean Older Adults with an Instrumental Variable Regression
Jungtaek Lee and Juyeon Kim
Psychiatry Investigation, 2023, Vol. 20(4), pp. 325–333 SSCI
Employing the COVID-19 pandemic as an instrumental variable, establishes that reduced social interaction frequency causally leads to cognitive decline among Korean older adults. A one-unit increase in meeting frequency raised cognitive scores by 0.15–0.50 points.
Social Connectedness
The Role of Health Insurance in Mental Healthcare for Young Adults
Jungtaek Lee and Juyeon Kim
Applied Economics, 2020, Vol. 52(42), pp. 4577–4593 SSCI
Exploits the ACA dependent coverage expansion using a regression discontinuity design with NHIS data (2011–2013) to estimate the causal effect of health insurance on young adults' mental healthcare utilization.
Health Economics
Effects of Health Insurance Coverage on Risky Behaviors
Jungtaek Lee
Health Economics, 2018, Vol. 27(4), pp. 762–777 SSCI
Examines the causal relationship between the ACA's dependent coverage expansion and risky behaviors (smoking, drinking, obesity), testing the moral hazard hypothesis—whether gaining insurance encourages risk-taking through reduced expected costs of poor health.
Health Economics
Public Policy
Does Legalization of Sunday Alcohol Sales Increase Crime? Evidence from Seven States
Baris K. Yörük and Jungtaek Lee
Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 2018, Vol. 79(6), pp. 816–825 SSCI
Using difference-in-differences with FBI NIBRS data (2000–2010), finds that states legalizing Sunday alcohol sales experienced 16–23% increases in violent and property crimes on Sundays, with negligible spillover effects on other weekdays.
Public Policy
Peer-Reviewed Journals (KCI) 8 papers
Health Insurance is Healthy: An Effect of Obtaining Medicare on Self-Rated Health
Jungtaek Lee
Journal of Insurance and Finance (보험금융연구), 2023, Vol. 34(1), pp. 65–99 KCI
Estimates the causal effect of obtaining Medicare eligibility at age 65 on self-rated health, exploiting the sharp eligibility threshold with a regression discontinuity design.
Health Economics
The Impact of Social Factors on Adherence to Mask-Wearing During the COVID-19 Outbreak
Jungtaek Lee
The Journal of Women and Economics (여성경제연구), 2023, Vol. 20(1), pp. 61–86 KCI
Analyzes how social and demographic factors influenced compliance with mask-wearing policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Public Policy
Social Connectedness
The Effect of Health Insurance on Self-Rated Health: Evidence from Older Adults with Functional Limitation
Jungtaek Lee and Juyeon Kim
The Korean Journal of Health Economics and Policy (보건경제와정책연구), 2022, Vol. 28(4), pp. 123–156 KCI
Investigates how health insurance affects self-assessed health status among functionally limited older adults, a population particularly sensitive to insurance coverage due to high healthcare needs.
Health Economics
The Effect of an Increase in Child Care Needs on Women's Labor Market Outcomes During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Jungtaek Lee
The Journal of Women and Economics (여성경제연구), 2022, Vol. 19(1), pp. 21–44 KCI
Examines how the pandemic-driven surge in childcare demands disproportionately affected women's employment, analyzing gender disparities in labor market outcomes when public childcare services were suspended.
Labor Economics
The Causal Effect of Depression on Cognitive Function
Jungtaek Lee
The Korean Journal of Health Economics and Policy (보건경제와정책연구), 2022, Vol. 28(1), pp. 64–86 KCI
Uses fixed effects models with instrumental variable analysis to establish the causal direction from depression to cognitive decline, addressing the endogeneity challenge inherent in this bidirectional relationship.
Health Economics
Social Connectedness
Macroeconomic Impacts of the Reform of National Basic Livelihood Security System
Jungtaek Lee and Taejun Lim
Journal of Insurance and Finance (보험금융연구), 2021, Vol. 32(3), pp. 95–122 KCI
Evaluates the macroeconomic consequences of reforming Korea's national basic livelihood security system, assessing its aggregate effects on economic activity and welfare.
Public Policy
Living Arrangements and Cognitive Function Among Korean Older Adults
Juyeon Kim and Jungtaek Lee
Survey Research (조사연구), 2018, Vol. 19(1), pp. 97–127 KCI
Examines how different living arrangements—living alone, with spouse, or with children—influence cognitive function trajectories among Korean older adults.
Social Connectedness
The Effect of Retirement on Health Behaviors, Mental Health and Subjective Health Status
Jungtaek Lee and Juyeon Kim
Public Health and Social Science (보건과사회과학), 2018, Vol. 47(1), pp. 5–29 KCI
Investigates the causal effects of retirement on health-related behaviors, mental health, and self-assessed health, distinguishing between voluntary and involuntary retirement pathways.
Labor Economics
Health Economics
Working Papers & Work in Progress
* Titles indicate research topics, not final paper titles.
Does the Basic Pension Reduce Social Isolation Among Older Adults? Empirical Evidence from South Korea
Jungtaek Lee
Estimates the causal effect of South Korea’s 2014 Basic Pension expansion on social isolation among older adults, combining a difference-in-differences design with an age-65 eligibility instrumental-variable strategy in the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing (KLoSA). Finds that pension receipt significantly reduces loneliness and depressive symptoms.
Working Paper
Health Economics
Social Connectedness
Public Policy
Voluntary Turnover and the Federal On-site Work Mandate across Federal, State, and Local Governments
Jungtaek Lee
Uses the 2025 federal return-to-office executive order as a natural experiment in Current Population Survey (CPS) data to estimate its effect on voluntary turnover. Event-study estimates reveal a two-month-lagged rise in departures, with spillover turnover among state and local employees not directly targeted by the mandate.
Working Paper
Labor Economics
Public Policy
Fringe Benefit Satisfaction, Remote Work Access, and Employee Retention: Exploring Sectoral Variations
Jungtaek Lee
Analyzes nationally representative General Social Survey (GSS) data from 2002–2024 to examine how fringe benefit satisfaction and remote work access relate to job satisfaction and turnover intention across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, finding weaker associations in the public sector.
Working Paper
Labor Economics
When Women Earn More: Childbirth and the Retraditionalization of Female-Breadwinner Couples
Jungtaek Lee
Using 27 waves of matched couple data from the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study (KLIPS), estimates event-study models of earnings around first birth by couples’ pre-birth breadwinner arrangement. Finds that even female-breadwinner couples shift toward a conventional gendered earnings order after childbirth, driven largely by husbands’ pronounced earnings gains.
Working Paper
Labor Economics
Social Connectedness
The Effect of Basic Pension on Suicide Rate
Jungtaek Lee
Examines whether the introduction of basic pension reduces suicide rates among older adults, using a difference-in-differences design that accounts for treatment intensity variation.
Working Paper
Public Policy
Health Economics
The Effect of Medigap on Healthcare Utilization During and After COVID-19
Jungtaek Lee
Investigates the role of supplemental insurance (Medigap) in healthcare resilience during the pandemic, using a diff-in-discontinuity design exploiting the Medicare eligibility threshold at age 65. Analyzes heterogeneous recovery patterns by income, race, and gender.
Working Paper
Health Economics
Health Insurance and Wages
Jungtaek Lee
Examines the relationship between employer-provided health insurance and wage determination in the U.S. labor market.
In Progress
Labor Economics
Health Economics
Collective Bargaining
Jungtaek Lee
Examines how state-level collective bargaining protections shape public-sector worker outcomes, including turnover and bargaining power.
In Progress
Labor Economics
