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This book provides a timely and in-depth analysis of South Korea's key current issues and foreseeable challenges of the economy, with a provocative reassessment of its future.
List of contents
- Part 1: Longer-term Outlook, Challenges, and Issues
- 1: Introduction: Overview of Contemporary Issues and Challenges
- 2: (Why) Is the Current Recovery So Different from the Past?
- 3: Taking the Long View of Economic Growth, Part 1: Recent Growth Deceleration, Convergence Debate, and Structural Issues
- 4: Taking the Long View of Economic Growth, Part 2: Population Aging, Private Debt, and Japanification Risk
- 5: Social Polarization and Inequality of Income and Wealth
- 6: Jobs and Wages: Sectoral Shifts, Technological Change, and Structural Rigidities
- Part 2: Political Economy of Economic Policy
- 7: Are There Political Business Cycles in Korea?
- 8: Korean Presidents and Major Policy Agenda over the Last Three Decades
- 9: Korea's Monetary policy and Challenges for the Bank of Korea
- 10: Looming Fiscal Challenges: Polarization, Populism, Population Aging, and Debt
- Part 3: Trade, Capital Markets, and Currency
- 11: A Case for Korea as a Developed Market?
- 12: Korea Joins the League of Wealthy Nations
- Part 4: North Korea
- 13: North Korea: Known Unknowns and Unknown Unknowns
- Part 5: Epilogue
- 14: Final Thoughts
About the author
Jaejoon Woo is an Associate Professor of Economics at DePaul University. Previously, he served as Chief Korea Economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and as Senior Economist at the IMF. Also, he held an economist position at the OECD. He served as Member of the International Finance Development Council for Ministry of Strategy and Finance. He taught at Harvard University, Helsinki School of Economics (now Aalto University), and Sciences Po. He received his PhD in economics from Harvard University, and his research areas include macroeconomics, political economy, fiscal policy, inequality, and Korea. He wrote over 145 market-oriented research notes on Korea at BAML, and published 3 books and 32 articles, including in the leading economics journals such as Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Public Economics, European Economic Review, Journal of Development Economics, and Economica. His works are featured in The Economist and Financial Times.
Summary
This book provides a timely and in-depth analysis of South Korea's key current issues and foreseeable challenges of the economy, with a provocative reassessment of its future.
Additional text
The book is a massive undertaking. In its 600-plus pages, Woo covers not only trade and finance issues, but also social and political issues such as polarization and political business cycles. The study resembles a report by a research taskforce at a think tank rather than a monograph by a single author as the covered topics are typically beyond a single person's expertise. One will also notice that the book is very much data-driven; there are more than 80 tables and 150 figures! The comprehensive and multi-faceted approach may be the reflection of the author's diverse and broad career experience.
