Contemporary South Korean Economy: Challenges And Prospects
Contemporary South Korean Economy: Challenges And Prospects

Author: Min-hua Chiang

Publisher: #N/A

Published: 2017-06-28

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 9813207256

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South Korea's post-war economic success is a well-known story. However, its development in the past two decades is relatively less investigated. By reviewing key economic issues in South Korea's economy today, this book offers an input to the research of contemporary South Korea, in particular the country's economic development and its external economic relations.This book provides an analytical overview of key issues in contemporary South Korean economy. The timely and in-depth study presented in the book examines the main reasons behind South Korea's economic slowdown in recent years, the economic and social impact following chaebol's growing business expansion, free trade agreements with China and the United States, the development of income inequality, the ageing demography and the Korean government's policy response to overcome the current economic difficulties.

Economic Crisis and Corporate Restructuring in Korea
Economic Crisis and Corporate Restructuring in Korea

Author: Stephan Haggard

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2003-02-26

Total Pages: 374

ISBN-13: 9780521823630

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Asian business conglomerates have clearly been successful agents of growth, mobilizing capital, borrowing technology from abroad and spearheading Asia's exports. However, these firms have long had a number of organisational and financial weaknesses, including heavy reliance on debt, that make them vulnerable to shocks. Nowhere was this more true than in Korea, where the large corporate groups known as chaebol have dominated the economic landscape. This collection of essays by leading political scientists and economists provides a comprehensive look at the chaebol problem in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. The authors consider the historical evolution of the chaebol and their contribution to the onset of economic turmoil in 1997. The book analyses the government's short-run response to corporate and financial distress, and outlines an agenda for longer-term reform of the financial system, corporate governance and the politics of business-government relations.

Financial Crisis and Transformation of Korean Business Groups
Financial Crisis and Transformation of Korean Business Groups

Author: Sea-Jin Chang

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2003-04-28

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 1139440071

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Sea-Jin Chang argues that the Korean financial crisis of 1997 was due to the inertia of both the business groups known as chaebols and the Korean government which prevented adaptation to changing external environments. Once the Korean government stopped central economic planning and pursued economic liberalization in the 1980s, the transition created a void under which neither the government nor markets could monitor chaebols' investment activities. The intricate web of cross-shareholding, debt guarantees, and vertical integration resulted in extensive cross-subsidization and kept chaebols from shedding unprofitable businesses. The government's continued interventions in banks' lending practices created 'moral hazards' for both chaebols and banks. This treatment demonstrates how the structure of chaebols later inhibited other adaptations and for all practical purposes became nearly dysfunctional. The book argues that restructuring of chaebols should focus on improving corporate governance systems. After such restructuring, the author predicts, chaebols will re-emerge as stronger, more focused global players.

Asia's Next Giant
Asia's Next Giant

Author: Alice Hoffenberg Amsden

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 9780195076035

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South Korea has been quietly growing into a major economic force, even challenging Japan in some industries. This growth may be seen as an example of "late industrialization" and this book discusses this point.

The Park Chung Hee Era
The Park Chung Hee Era

Author: Byung-Kook Kim

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2011-04-01

Total Pages: 753

ISBN-13: 0674061063

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In 1961 South Korea was mired in poverty. By 1979 it had a powerful industrial economy and a vibrant civil society in the making, which would lead to a democratic breakthrough eight years later. The transformation took place during the years of Park Chung Hee's presidency. Park seized power in a coup in 1961 and ruled as a virtual dictator until his assassination in October 1979. He is credited with modernizing South Korea, but at a huge political and social cost. South Korea's political landscape under Park defies easy categorization. The state was predatory yet technocratic, reform-minded yet quick to crack down on dissidents in the name of political order. The nation was balanced uneasily between opposition forces calling for democratic reforms and the Park government's obsession with economic growth. The chaebol (a powerful conglomerate of multinationals based in South Korea) received massive government support to pioneer new growth industries, even as a nationwide campaign of economic shock therapy-interest hikes, devaluation, and wage cuts-met strong public resistance and caused considerable hardship. This landmark volume examines South Korea's era of development as a study in the complex politics of modernization. Drawing on an extraordinary range of sources in both English and Korean, these essays recover and contextualize many of the ambiguities in South Korea's trajectory from poverty to a sustainable high rate of economic growth.

Big Business, Strong State
Big Business, Strong State

Author: Eun Mee Kim

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9780791432099

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Debunks the rosy success story about South Korean economic development by analyzing how the state and businesses formed an alliance, while excluding labor, in order to attain economic development, and how these three entities were transformed in the process. Examines development in the country between 1960 and 1990, looking at the interaction between social, economic, and political changes, and describes collaboration and conflict between the state and business. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The Korean Economic System
The Korean Economic System

Author: Jae-Seung Shim

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 9780754670780

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Presenting a fascinating and comprehensive analysis of economic development outside of the traditional neo-classical, developmental-state and dependency perspectives, this book examines in detail the evolution of institutions that contributed to economic growth and the formation and the workings of the economic system. It offers one of the most stimulating and distinctive views of Korean economic development to date.

Oxford Handbook of the International Relations of Asia
Oxford Handbook of the International Relations of Asia

Author: Saadia M. Pekkanen

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 841

ISBN-13: 0199916241

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This Handbook examines the theory and practice of international relations in Asia. Building on an investigation of how various theoretical approaches to international relations can elucidate Asia's empirical realities, authors examine the foreign relations and policies of major countries or sets of countries.

Domestic Constraints on South Korean Foreign Policy
Domestic Constraints on South Korean Foreign Policy

Author: Scott A. Snyder

Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations

Published: 2018-01-01

Total Pages: 106

ISBN-13: 0876097336

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These essays support the argument that strong and effective presidential leadership is the most important prerequisite for South Korea to sustain and project its influence abroad. That leadership should be attentive to the need for public consensus and should operate within established legislative mechanisms that ensure public accountability. The underlying structures sustaining South Korea’s foreign policy formation are generally sound; the bigger challenge is to manage domestic politics in ways that promote public confidence about the direction and accountability of presidential leadership in foreign policy.

Industrial Development in Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea
Industrial Development in Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea

Author: Kai-Sun Kwong

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 9812810064

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Economic analysis of the industrial experiences of the newly industrialized economies in Asia is generally lacking in the literature. This study attempts to fill that void by providing an in-depth discussion on the economic impact of the industrial policies of Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea in the three-and-a-half decades after 1960. Throughout the study, a broad perspective of macroeconomic development is maintained. It is highly critical of the narrow-minded objective of certain governments in maximizing the pace of industrialization at the expense of general economic well-being. A comparative analysis of the industrial experiences of the three economies also shows a diversity of constraints and processes. Singapore relied on multinational corporations, Taiwan on returned engineers, and South Korea on chaebols. There appears to be no Asian formula for industrialization. In Hong Kong, there is an ongoing debate on whether some form of industrial policy should be introduced, in view of the perception that Hong Kong is lagging behind the other economies in terms of technology. Drawing on the experiences of the other economies, the concluding chapter of the book provides an informed and balanced answer to this question. Contents: Singapore: Dominance of Multinational Corporations; Taiwan: Thriving High-Technology Industries and SME; South Korea: Government-Led Development and the Dominance of Giant Corporations; Comparison Among Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea; Strategic Considerations in the Hong Kong Context. Readership: Researchers, policy-makers and undergraduates in economics and East Asian Studies.