Korea's political economy

Lee-Jay Cho, Yoon Hyung Kim

Over the past three decades, South Korea has moved along a path of strong economic growth and political democratization, attracting worldwide attention and providing valuable lessons for other developing economies. Yet Korea still must grapple with many intractable problems fueled by its rapid industrialization and uneven growth, including unbalanced distribution of wealth, concentrated economic power, and adversarial relationships between management and labor. Within the context of these sweeping changes, this volume explores options for economic and social institutional reform in Korea. Drawing on models of economic development from Japan, the United States, and Europe, distinguished Asian and Western scholars relate the experiences of previously industrialized economies to each facet of Korea's economic system, including national management; taxation and banking; land ownership...