This book makes the bold attempt at proposing a new general theory of economic development founded on the fact-based perspective of economic behaviour. The main premise is that economic institutions and policies must embody 'economic discrimination' if there is to be any chance of real economic development. By economic discrimination, the author means 'treating differences differently' by selecting and supporting economic entities and behaviour that contribute positively to the economy. By presenting a general theory that goes beyond mainstream and ad hoc economic theories, Sung-Hee Jwa provides a new way to look at capitalism beyond the Marxian interpretation, explaining why some economies develop and others don't. The book identifies markets, government and corporations as the 'holy trinity of economic development', that is, the three most important institutions that must work together via economic discrimination to steer the economy towards real transformative progress. It also warns against the current trend of economic egalitarianism or 'not treating differences differently' because it destroys economic incentives and results in an array of economic problems including growth stagnation and worsening income distribution. The theory presented in this book and its implications for development management will be an invaluable resource for development economists, scholars, instructors, researchers and policymakers.

This book provides a unique and refreshing look at the Korean economy over the past 60 years. While most books and articles on the Korean economy would be technical or specifically address some aspect of Korea, this book takes an overarching view of Korea's economic development. It assesses Korea's economic take-off in the 1960s and 1970s, but also views the problems of 'economic egalitarianism' since the late-1980s to today. The book begins by listing and dispelling a number of important myths of the Korean economy and concludes by providing eight important 'lessons' derived from Korea's experiences for developed as well as developing countries.

This book presents Korea's economic strategy to meet the emerging challenges, as it recovers from the 1997 financial crisis and moves on into the globalization and information era. For important policy areas, the authors evaluate existing policies, and offer proposals for new strategic direction that can achieve sustainable and equitable economic growth for Korea. A considerable majority of the contributing authors are involved in formulating economic strategy as policy advisors to the Korean government, and they bring to their chapters extensive experience and insights regarding Korean government policies that are rarely available to readers in such a comprehensive form. The book therefore offers a timely, practical, and unique analysis of all aspects of the Korean economy. Academics, policy practitioners, and others with interests in the Korean economy, Asian economies, development studies, and a broad sweep of other issues concerning structural reform will find in this volume a gold mine of detail and opinion.

The business environment of the chaebol (large corporations in Korea) has changed drastically since the outbreak of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. This book discusses the attempts of the Korean government to remedy structural weaknesses in the corporate sector by launching an aggressive chaebol reform package, supported by the IMF and other international agencies. Its main objective was to restore competitiveness in the corporate sector and to upgrade business conditions to that of international practices and standards.Competition and Corporate Governance in Korea critically reviews government policy towards the chaebol and provides a comprehensive investigation of the relationship between corporate governance and economic performance as well as the interaction of economic institutions with the chaebols' incentive structure and management behaviour. Policy implications based on objective and rigorous empirical analyses of data on the chaebol are also discussed. Notwithstanding the fact that the chaebol have already undergone considerable governance, capital, and business portfolio restructuring, this volume suggests a road map for further restructuring, and the creation of a new incentive structure to help strengthen chaebol competitiveness. This richly informative book will appeal to academics and researchers of industrial organization, economics and corporate reform as well as those involved in Asian studies.