About two weeks ago I was a discussant at a Korea seminar in Seattle
sponsored by the Consul Gen of ROK Seattle and the Trade Dev Alliance (a
business group). Among many interesting things about the Korean economic
reforms at this time, I specifically asked about the inequality issue. I
did not mention relative equality in Korea because I had assumed everyone,
including Louis, knows about it. Besides, Louis was more focused on the
imperialism question and I wanted to suggest that or rather as he
suggested that it does occasionally rain in the desert. But this would be
tantamount to suggesting that Koreans can't do it on their own. It would
neglect a great deal of internal social structures and institutional
evolution (a problem that dependencia is wont to fall into).
But coming to Micheal P's issue of inequality, I want to suggest that
Korea's income distribution has gotten worse since the 1970s. Seen in a
dialectical way, Korea's income distribution was relatively good to begin
with (land reforms, eucation), it was sustained perhaps it was improved
considerably (just a hunch) with Park Chung Hee's laor absorbing export
model (absolute sv), but got worse (although pci was rising quite
damatically) during the heavy and chemical industry phase, and the rise
of the chaebols (which the state nurtured) by the 1980s. I suspect with
the 1997 crisis and the liberalizations (lay offs, privatization,
etc) Korean income distribution has gotten worse. The response by one of
the speakers (a dean of a Korean univ but a former govt advisor) was that
income distribution was not an issue in Koean society today. I did not
buy it BTW. His colleague, a journalist of a Korean periodical, was much
more cynical of the Korean govt's position but really did not bite the
bait that I offered. What was frustrating was the complete neglect of
politics in the reform process by the speakers and the Ambassador,
although there were enough hints that reforms weren't going
smoothly. Finally, one of the other discussant (an American wanted
the Korean bus to bankrupt and save the taxpayers)!
Cheers, Anthony
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Anthony P. D'Costa, Associate Professor
Comparative International Development
University of Washington Campus Box 358436
1900 Commerce Street
Tacoma, WA 98402, USA
Phone: (253) 692-4462
Fax : (253) 692-5718
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On Sat, 9 Dec 2000, Michael Perelman wrote:
> Anthony D. is correct that we can learn from Korea. One factor that he
> did not mention is a relatively equal distribution of income,
> also widespread education, including for girls.
>
> By the way, why did Japan encourage Korean education?
> --
> Michael Perelman
> Economics Department
> California State University
> Chico, CA 95929
>
> Tel. 530-898-5321
> E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
