This timely book evaluates international human capital policies, offering a comparative perspective on global efforts to generate new ideas and novel ways of thinking about human capital. Examining educational reforms, quality of education and links between education and socio-economic environments, chapters contrast Western experiences and perspectives with those of industrializing economies in Asia, focusing particularly on Korea and the USA. Contributors analyse trends in Korean education, including state, charter and private education, higher education and student loans and debt, and provide policy prescriptions for the improvement of higher education financing in the USA. Offering theoretical insights into the relationship between socio-economic and educational benefits for children and young people, and human capital formation, further chapters consider recent empirical evidence on disadvantaged people in the USA, before broadening the scope of analysis to consider the effects of human capital on industrial structure and productivity among OECD countries. Providing a unique and incisive understanding of human capital formation in the context of education, this book lays out guidance to scholars and researchers of human capital, particularly those concentrating on policies in Korea and the USA. It will also be useful to policymakers involved in economic and education policy.

Population aging is perhaps the single biggest economic and social obstacle confronting Asia's future. The region-wide demographic transition towards an older population is fundamentally reshaping the demographic landscape, and is giving rise to two key socio-economic challenges. This timely book provides an in-depth analysis of these challenges and presents concrete policy options for tackling them. First, the expert contributors argue, Asia must find ways to sustain rapid economic growth in the face of less favorable demographics, which implies slower growth of the workforce. Second, they contend, Asia must find ways to deliver affordable, adequate, and sustainable old-age economic security for its growing elderly population. Underpinned by rigorous analysis, a wide range of concrete policy options for sustaining economic growth while delivering economic security for the elderly are then presented. These include Asia-wide policy options - relevant to the entire region - such as building up strong national pension systems, while other policy options are more relevant to sub-groups of countries. This stimulating and informative book will be of great interest to academics, students, and researchers with an interest in Asian studies, economics generally, and, more specifically, public sector economics. Contributors: Q. Chen, K. Eggleston, G. Estrada, L. Ladusingh, M.S. Lai, S.-H. Lee, L. Li, A. Mason, R. Matsukura, M.R. Narayana, N. Ogawa, D. Park, A. Ramayandi, K. Shin, A.-C. Tung

Offering a comprehensive overview of the major issues that arise in the enforcement of competition laws, this book takes an interdisciplinary approach to the topic, reviewing the development of Korean competition laws and their enforcement with rigorous economic analysis. Chapters build on the Korean experience, providing guidance to the capacity-building efforts of developing countries that have recently introduced competition laws. In this exciting new book, an international team of experts compares market structures, in both global and Korean contexts, particularly focusing on the impact of foreign competition on market concentration and ways to improve market structure. It thoroughly investigates core competition problems, including international abuses of dominance, mergers and collusion, and vertical restraints. Contributions move beyond explaining the laws and practices of enforcement agencies, offering readers an insight into the trend of ever-increasing interdependence among national economies, complemented by analyses of recent developments in the US and Canada. The exploration of clear trends both in Korea and globally will prove valuable to scholars and students of industrial competition policy, and law and economics. It will also be useful to policy-makers, particularly those in developing countries, looking to better understand the issues surrounding competition law and designing future policies.

This topical book explores the global experiences of responding to climate change, with perspectives from Australia, China, the European Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United States, as well as the International Energy Agency. The authors, internationally recognized specialists in the field, discuss the obstacles faced by policy makers, as well as exploring policies and recommendations for achieving goals set in responding to climate change. The work also uses the case of Korea in the initial stage of its policy making, as an example for developing countries not bound by the provisions of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change. This important book assesses current national policies and future options for the global response to climate change. Responding to Climate Change will prove to be insightful for environmental policy makers and researchers for use in assessments of lessons in global and regional experience with climate change and for future policy directions. Graduate and upper-level undergraduate students studying environmental and natural resources will also find plenty of invaluable information in this important resource. Contributors: R.A. Bradley, C.H. Hahn, S. Howes, S.-H. Lee, J.-G. Oh, L. Rothenberg, S.-H. Ryu, J.P.M. Sijm, M.-K. Song, K.-S. Yoon, Z. Zhang

The Asian economic crisis drew attention to the urgent need for reforming social welfare programs. Korea survived the brunt of the economic crisis, but is still faced with numerous socioeconomic problems that emerged during and after the crisis period. This book offers a comparative review of these problems and of welfare reforms that have already been tried, together with proposals for reforms that could be introduced to guarantee the the most important human needs.