The 1997 South Korean financial crisis not only shook the country itself but also sent shock waves through the financial world at large. This impressive book critically assesses the conventional wisdom surrounding the Korean crisis and the performance of the IMF-sponsored reform programme.
Looking first at the strengths and weaknesses of 'Korea Inc.' in comparison with other East Asian countries, the authors describe the challenges faced by Korea in the 1990s due to the acceleration of globalization. By arguing that the transition attempted by Korea was badly conceived and ill designed, Restructuring 'Korea Inc.' focuses on corporate reform after the crisis that has led to the running up of huge 'transition costs'.
This snappy, informative and readable book has a broad historical overview and with its suggestions for structural change for Korea. This book is an important contribution not only to Asian studies, but also to the study of financial crises and the political economy of economic reform.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203219414

Can it be an advantage to be backward? Alexander Gerschenkron developed a model of economic development in which relatively less-developed countries were at an advantage. State interventions could systematically compensate for inadequate supplies of capital, skilled labour, entrepreneurship and technology found in the more advanced. This text examines the relevance of this hypothesis to two of the most spectacularly successful economies of East Asia, Japan and South Korea. Combining insights from economic history, development economics and the economics of technology, the book emphasizes the need for historical models to understand historical processes.

The world economy fell into a global financial crisis in 2008/9 and is still jittered by its aftershocks. Like other financial crises happened in the world economy, it came as a surprise. In historical perspective, financial crises should be understood as a natural fact of life in the world economy and a more pertinent question that should be posed would be why people so easily forget and do not learn from the historical experience. This book deals with the question in two ways. First, it investigates the frame of mind that distances people from the reality of life. At the heart of it, it argues that there are wrong perceptions on the working of the world economy, in particular, the international financial market. It summarizes them as 'the five conventional wisdoms' in the international financial market and, by critically examining them, it draws on 'the five financial theorems', which would provide intellectual pillars for a more realistic understanding of the global financial market. Second, the book examines in detail the case of an emerging market economy that fell into a financial crisis twice in the recent decade. South Korea provides us with an interesting case of emerging market financial crises that came as 'surprises': it faced a financial crisis in 1997/98 after it had been acclaimed as one of 'East Asian miracle economies' and it was again befallen to a crisis during the global financial crisis in 2008/2009 after it was widely regarded as a country that had recovered from the crisis with one of the most successful implementations of the IMF-sponsored reforms. The book attempts to provide the readers with a realistic understanding of emerging market financial crises by interpreting the recent global financial crisis and the Korean crises with some general concepts manifested in 'the five financial theorems'. It also tries to draw more general implications for policy management of emerging market economies.

This book examines the spectacularly successful economies of East Asia, Japan and South Korea. The comparison of the 'catching-up' process in Japan and South Korea includes studies of the iron and steel and semi-conductor industries. The author shows the difficulties involved in trying to detect general patterns of development, as both countries appear to respond to different technological imperatives. As a result general models of development should be treated with caution, given the need to consider different historical and institutional contexts.

The world economy fell into a global financial crisis in 2008/9 and is still jittered by its aftershocks. Like other financial crises happened in the world economy, it came as a surprise. In historical perspective, financial crises should be understood as a natural fact of life in the world economy and a more pertinent question that should be posed would be why people so easily forget and do not learn from the historical experience. This book deals with the question in two ways. First, it investigates the frame of mind that distances people from the reality of life. At the heart of it, it argues that there are wrong perceptions on the working of the world economy, in particular, the international financial market. It summarizes them as 'the five conventional wisdoms' in the international financial market and, by critically examining them, it draws on 'the five financial theorems', which would provide intellectual pillars for a more realistic understanding of the global financial market. Second, the book examines in detail the case of an emerging market economy that fell into a financial crisis twice in the recent decade. South Korea provides us with an interesting case of emerging market financial crises that came as 'surprises': it faced a financial crisis in 1997/98 after it had been acclaimed as one of 'East Asian miracle economies' and it was again befallen to a crisis during the global financial crisis in 2008/2009 after it was widely regarded as a country that had recovered from the crisis with one of the most successful implementations of the IMF-sponsored reforms. The book attempts to provide the readers with a realistic understanding of emerging market financial crises by interpreting the recent global financial crisis and the Korean crises with some general concepts manifested in 'the five financial theorems'. It also tries to draw more general implications for policy management of emerging market economies.

East Asia has in many ways been the cockpit of the globalization process. If the phenomenon as it is generally defined is largely recognized as a relatively recent one, the countries that have experienced most change during this period have been in the region. Rapid economic growth leading to the Tigers label was followed by financial crisis and partial recovery. Underlying this has been the remarkable success story of Japan since the Second World War, followed by the current, seemingly inexorable progress of China towards centrality on the world stage. Jang-Sup Shin has amassed an international team of contributors to shed light on how the various Asian countries have responded to the globalization process. These include James Crotty, Lu Ding and Ha-Joon Chang.

East Asia has in many ways been the cockpit of the globalization process. If the phenomenon as it is generally defined is largely recognized as a relatively recent one, the countries that have experienced most change during this period have been in the region.

Rapid economic growth leading to the Tigers label was followed by financial crisis and partial recovery. Underlying this has been the remarkable success story of Japan since the Second World War, followed by the current, seemingly inexorable progress of China towards centrality on the world stage.

Jang-Sup Shin has amassed an international team of contributors to shed light on how the various Asian countries have responded to the globalization process. These include James Crotty, Lu Ding and Ha-Joon Chang.

Predatory Value Extraction explains how an ideology of corporate resource allocation known as 'maximizing shareholder value' (MSV) that emerged in the 1980s came to dominate strategic thinking in business schools and corporate boardrooms in the United States. Undermining the social foundations of sustainable prosperity, it resulted in employment instability, income inequity, and slow productivity growth. In explaining what happened to sustainable prosperity, William Lazonick and Jang-Sup Shin focus on the growing imbalance between value creation and value extraction in the U.S. economy, and the corporate-governance institutions that determine this balance in the nation's major business corporations. The imbalance has become so extreme that predatory value extraction is now a central economic activity, to the point at which the U.S. economy as a whole can be aptly described as a value-extracting economy. Balancing the contributions of economic actors to value creation with their power to extract value provides the foundation for stable and equitable economic growth. When certain economic actors are able to assert their power to extract far more value than they contribute to the value-creation process, an imbalance occurs which, when extreme, leads to dire economic, political, and social consequences. This book not only explores these consequences, but also sets out an agenda for restoring sustainable prosperity.