Changsu Ko

Assistant Professor

Department of Economics

Inha University

Tel: +82-32-860-7783

E-mail: csko [a.t.] inha.ac.kr

Education

Ph.D. in Economics, University of California, Los Angeles, 2019.

- Internal Advisors: Moshe Buchinsky (Chair), Maurizio Mazzocco, Edward Kung

M.A. in Economics, Yonsei University, 2013.

B.A. in Economics, and B.S. in Mathematics, Yonsei University, 2011.

Employment

Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Inha University, 2025. 3. - Current

(Past)

Fellow, Korea Institute of Public Finance, 2025. 1. - 2025. 2.

Associate Fellow, Korea Institute of Public Finance, 2019. 8. - 2024. 12.

Publications

- "Neighborhood Effects of Buy-to-Rent and Build-To Rent Public Housing" (with Heepyung Cho and Jinsoo Bae), Contemporary Economic Policy, Vol. 44, No. 1, 2026.

- "The Importance of Ordinal Rank Among Peers: Focusing on Height and Income" (with Don Eun), Bulletin of Economic Research, Vol. 77, No. 4, 2025.

- "Local employment multiplier: Evidence from relocation of public-sector entities in South Korea" (with Hwanoong Lee and Wookun Kim), Labour Economics, Vol. 88, 102515, 2024.

- "The Effect of Spousal Loss on the Cognitive Ability of the Elder" (with Hwanoong Lee), The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2022.

(in Korean)

- "신중년 사회공헌활동 지원사업의 고용효과 분석" , 재정정책논집, 25권 4호, 59-93, 2023.

Selected Working Papers

- "Designated Market Makers are Even Better than You Think" (with DongIk Kang and Jongsang Park), Submitted.

- "Welfare Expenditure Growth and its Impact on Elderly Suicide Rates" (with Hwanoong Lee), Revision Requested, Health Economics.

- "The Tutoring Race: Does Relative Rank Matter Beyond the Absolute Amount?"

(Abstract)

This study examines whether a student’s ordinal rank in private tutoring expenditure within the classroom predicts subsequent tutoring demand and academic achievement. Using longitudinal data on South Korean fourth graders, I exploit variation in within-classroom rank conditional on absolute tutoring expenditure and classroom fixed effects. I find that a higher percentile rank significantly predicts greater private tutoring expenditure over the following three years, while having no significant association with subsequent academic achievement. These findings suggest that relative position in educational investment may play a role in the persistence of private tutoring demand beyond the absolute level of investment.

- "The Impact of Minimum Wage Increases on Occupational Accidents"

(Abstract)

This study provides an empirical analysis of the impact of changes in the minimum wage on the occurrence of occupational accidents. Changes in the minimum wage can affect the incidence of occupational accidents through various factors, such as the intensity of work imposed by employers and the labor market participation intentions of workers. Using data from the Regional Employment Survey and occupational accident records, we perform an empirical analysis by exploiting the differential impact of minimum wage increases across demographic cells constructed by region, age, industry, and tenure. The results indicate that a greater impact of minimum wage increases is associated with a larger increase in the occurrence of occupational accidents, with this effect being concentrated in small-scale workplaces with fewer than 50 employees. Furthermore, the increasing effect is more pronounced among workers with less than two years of tenure.