From Hermit Kingdom to Miracle on the Han: Sources of Policy Change in Korea’s Trade Transformation / Douglas A. Irwin

In 1960, South Korea’s exports were about 1 percent of GDP, and its ability to import depended almost entirely on U.S. aid. After changing its foreign exchange policies in the mid-1960s, Korea’s exports surged to more than 10 percent of GDP by the end of the decade. This paper explores the political and economic context (as well as the individual actors) behind the shift in policy that enabled this dramatic export growth to occur. The United States helped initiate the process by withholding financial assistance, pressuring Korea to devalue its currency and reform its foreign exchange regime. The Korean government initially resisted taking these steps but in 1964 it became firmly committed to an export promotion strategy to boost foreign exchange earnings and end its dependence on American aid.

Who Benefits from Government Guarantees: Evidence from Saitdol Loans / Meeroo Kim

This study investigates whether Saitdol loans, a type of governmentguaranteed loan, were allocated to groups that would otherwise be unable to access the loan market without such a guarantee. To assess this, both non-parametric and parametric estimation methods, as proposed by Hendren (2013), were employed to examine the severity of information asymmetry between Saitdol loan borrowers and financial institutions, a potential cause of a market failure. The analysis results indicate that the information asymmetry between borrowers holding Saitdol loans and financial institutions was not severe enough to cause a market failure. This suggests that a significant number of Saitdol loans were allocated to borrowers who could have obtained loans from the private sector without government guarantees.

Free Economic Zones and Firm Performance: Evidence from Korea / Jungwook KimㆍJonghwa Lee

Policies involving what are known as Free Economic Zones (FEZs) have been popular among countries interested in attracting foreign investment. While foreign investment has generally benefited the receiving country, the effect of market rivalry is known to reverse this impact. Our paper tests, using listed and unlisted companies in Korea, whether the designation of a Korean FEZ affects firms in the region positively in terms of sales, profit, productivity, and export activities. We find that FEZ-designated firms outperform those in the other regions. However, the findings also suggest that the impact of FEZ designation takes years to unfold and that success requires consistent effort.

From Hermit Kingdom to Miracle on the Han: Sources of Policy Change in Korea’s Trade Transformation / Douglas A. Irwin
　Ⅰ. Introduction
　Ⅱ. Floundering in the 1950s
　Ⅲ. Tentative Reforms under the Chang Myn Government
　Ⅳ. President Park Takes Over
　Ⅴ. The 1964-65 Policy Changes
　Ⅵ. The End of Reforms
　Ⅶ. Conclusions
　REFERENCES

Who Benefits from Government Guarantees: Evidence from Saitdol Loans / Meeroo Kim
　Ⅰ. Introduction
　Ⅱ. Literature Review
　Ⅲ. Mid-Rate Loan Market in Korea
　Ⅳ. Methodology and Data
　Ⅴ. Empirical Analysis and Results
　Ⅵ. Conclusion
　APPENDIX
　REFERENCES

Free Economic Zones and Firm Performance: Evidence from Korea / Jungwook KimㆍJonghwa Lee
　Ⅰ. Introduction
　Ⅱ. Literature Review
　Ⅲ. Data and Methodology
　Ⅳ. Results
　Ⅴ. Conclusion
　REFERENCES