Economics professor Sang-Hyop Lee received a Presidential Commendation Award at the Government Complex in Daejeon, South Korea. The award was presented by Commissioner of Statistics Korea Kang Shin-Wook on behalf of South Korea President Moon Jae-In in recognition of Lee’s substantial contribution to national industrial development through the production of reliable statistics.
Lee is chair of the National Transfer Accounts (NTA) project, a global network dedicated to improve understanding of how population growth and its changing age structure influence economic growth, gender and generational equity, public finances, and other important features of the macro-economy. The NTA project was officially launched in 2004. Since that time, it has provided data to world policymakers in key areas such as social welfare, health, aging, education and gender equity.
Lee earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from Seoul National University, and his PhD in economics from Michigan State University. His research focuses on population aging and social welfare issues. In particular, he has investigated the link between population aging and the labor market issues, with particular emphasis on Asian economies. Given its empirical and applied nature, a substantial portion of his research involves estimation of economic models using data sets.
He has published numerous articles including 11 edited books focusing issues on these research topics. His recent edited books include Aging, Economic Growth, and Old-Age Security in Asia (2011, Edward Elgar), Inequality, Inclusive Growth, and Fiscal Policy in Asia (2015, Routledge), Social Policies in an Age of Austerity (2015, Edward Elgar), and the Demographic Dividend and Population Aging in Asia and the Pacific (2016, special issue of the Journal of the Economics of Aging).
In addition to his position in the Department of Economics, he is a Senior Fellow at the East-West Center.
