Date:
Location:
Kim Koo Forum on Korea Current Affairs
Hyungkee Kim
Professor of Economics, School of Economics and Trade, Kyungpook National University; Visiting Scholar, Korea Institute, Harvard University
Professor Kim’s research interests include methodology of political economy, participatory industrial relations, alternative development models, and the East Asian development model. Professor Kim graduated from the Department of Economics at Seoul National University. He received a Ph.D. in economics from Seoul National University. He was invited as an invited professor to University of Paris 13 and as a visiting professor to Fudan University. He also stayed as a visiting scholar at University of California, Berkeley. Professor Kim has written numerous books and papers on methodology of political economy, labor economic problems in Korea, and economic development models. His major books include New Political Economy (Seoul: Hanul Academy, 2001), A Third Way of the Korean Economy (Seoul: Hanul Academy, 2006), An Alternative Development Model: Beyond Neoliberalism (Seoul: Hanul Academy, 2007). He is currently conducting research on “Sustainability of the East Asian Development Model: The Cases of Korea, China, and Japan.” He will clarify both the common characteristics and some different features in these three countries. The Japanese economy has been in a long-term stagnation called the “lost two decades.” The Korean economy has problems with low growth and severe polarization. The Chinese economy is confronted with a deep chasm of polarization and the worst pollution even though it still shows high growth rates. Professor Kim’s study aims to analyze the consequences of the transformations of growth models and modes of regulation in three countries. Moreover, it will evaluate the conditions of sustainability in each country in terms of economic, social, and environmental sustainability. With these analyses his study aims to define the East Asian Development Model as a specific model differentiated from the other development models such as Anglo-Saxon, Rhine, and Nordic model.
Chaired by Carter J. Eckert, Yoon Se Young Professor of Korean History, Harvard University
Abstract
Numerous existing studies on the East Asian development model have analyzed the causes of the miracle and crisis of the model. This study will focus on the transformation processes and the conditions for sustainability of the East Asian development model appeared in Korea, China, and Japan. Based on a framework for analyzing a development model, the prototype and variants of the East Asian development model are specified in this paper. Four major trends of transformation-marketization, privatization, liberalization, and flexibilization- in the state sector, corporate sector, finance sector, labor sector, and foreign sector were analyzed. Moreover, the shift of growth regime was clarified. The transformation of the East Asian development model in Korea, China, and Japan has brought about serious economic, social, and ecological problems in terms of sustainability. An agenda for a sustainable East Asian development model that can overcome those problems is suggested.
Co-sponsored by the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies and Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
The Korea Institute acknowledges the generous support of the Kim Koo Foundation