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Taking a Turnpike: A Korean Perspective *
Author(s) -
Hong Wontack
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
review of international economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.513
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1467-9396
pISSN - 0965-7576
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9396.2005.00496.x
Subject(s) - restructuring , economics , state (computer science) , process (computing) , economic system , institutionalisation , politics , perspective (graphical) , market economy , economy , political science , finance , artificial intelligence , algorithm , computer science , law , operating system
Abstract Catch‐up is very much like taking interstate turnpikes to travel from a destitute backward state to an advanced state of material affluence in the shortest time. This paper presents an overview of the catch‐up process in Korea, analyzing the process of taking a turnpike. It delineates the advantage of export‐oriented growth strategy and examines the institutionalization of an export‐oriented regime in Korea. It amplifies the nature of Korea's “governed” market policies that bred the seeds of eventual catastrophe in light of the 1997 crisis that has dramatically revealed Korea's Achilles heel. It also addresses the political economy of switching turnpikes, amplifying the necessity of a fundamental institutional restructuring at certain points in the catch‐up process.