Earticle

This paper aims to provide a theoretical review of the characteristics of decentralization measurement variables, and thereby to identify the relationships between the political and economic variables affecting national competitiveness and happiness. This research begins by identifying problems relating to the decentralization policies of Park Geun-Hye administration in Korea. It evaluates these policies from a relative viewpoint, and analyzes how important variables of national policies such as income inequality, regulation levels, corruption levels, social capital, and the transparency of national policies affect local decentralization levels. A policy simulation will also be conducted to examine what differences will be made to ultimate dependent variables such as national competitiveness (national levels) and personal happiness (individual levels), following the assumption that realistic policy decisions are made on the basis of the results of these relation analyses.