This article is a comparative analysis of the sources of income inequality in four countries, namely Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. It relies upon decompositions of inequality measures by population groups and income sources (except for Japan because of data limitations)....

If "welfare through work" is to become a reality, Korea should dispense with the old method of haphazardly importing welfare programs based on one-to-one comparisons with developed countries and instead redefine the overarching goal of the welfare system by establishing a universal structure...

"There has been a remarkable upsurge of debate about increasing inequalities and their societal implications, reinforced by the economic crisis but bubbling to the surface before it. This has been seen in popular discourse, media coverage, political debate, and research in the social sciences....