Policy Analyses
Spatial-Data-Based Analysis of Adequate Supply and Demand for Childcare Service Infrastructure
- Author
Choi, Hyunsoo; Oh, Miae; Cheon, Mikyung
- Publication Date
2017
- Pages
- Series No.
- Language
With the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” emerging as a central keyword in the Korean economy and industry, big data analysis has become a major concern of policymakers in South Korea, as they strive to design data-driven policies and better public services appropriate to citizens’ needs. Based on a growing database of administrative and spatial data, Korean policymakers are also exploring the need to identify the spatial distribution of policy targets and infrastructure and the ways in which location-based analyses and predictions can be used to promote policy ends. In line with these trends, this study develops a database on local-level administrative and spatial data and analyzes it using the latest techniques in statistics with a view to establishing an advanced basis for data-driven policymaking on welfare. Specifically, this study determines the changes in spatial distribution of policy targets and infrastructure caused by changes in the policymaking environment, and simulates and predicts how best to expand and locate additional welfare resources in response to the spatial distribution of demand. The childcare service infrastructure in Korea, which forms the central subject of this study, is in need of more refined and accurate analysis on access and distribution due to the growing supply-demand imbalance in childcare services and changes in the policy environment. The accessibility of childcare facilities, such as daycares, is the first and foremost criterion parents consider in choosing, and should therefore be considered in
the development and implementation of plans on increasing different types of childcare facilities in the future. Despite these needs, much of the literature on the supply of childcare facilities has so far focused on the number of facilities of different types available at the municipal level (city-, county-, and district-wide) and their capacities. Few studies have ever addressed the importance of accessibility. Aware of this deficiency in the existing literature, this study establishes its own database combining diverse types of available public data, and analyzes and assesses childcare services and infrastructure in terms of accessibility. This study also predicts the likely changes in accessibility of the childcare service infrastructure resulting from the creation of additional facilities, and explores the policy implications of accessibility-based clustering of those facilities. In particular, this study uses diverse accessibility indicators, analyzes and assesses how an increase in the number of national and public childcare facilities can improve accessibility, simulates changes in accessibility of these services by simulating various locations at which new facilities could be located, and performs clustering analyses on the accessibility of childcare infrastructure for each region or municipality. The objective is to provide an empirical basis upon which the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) and local governments can base their plans for expanding the childcare infrastructure. The findings and policy suggestions provided by this study can
also be cited as examples of data-driven policymaking on expanding the national and public infrastructure for childcare, emphasized by the recently-elected Moon Jae-in administration.
