Rebalancing Growth in the Republic of Korea

The current account surplus of the Republic of Korea (henceforth Korea) increased significantly in the immediate recovery period after the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. Since then the surplus has gradually diminished, and from 2006 to 2008, the current account was close to being balanced. Econometric analysis reveals that the effect of exchange rate changes on Korea's trade is not robust during non-crisis periods. Exchange rates only significantly affect trade when observations during crisis periods are included. This suggests that exchange rate adjustments alone will not solve the imbalance issue. Korea's external imbalances are not only caused by external factors; they also reflect internal and policy factors such as: (i) saving-investment imbalances; (ii) export-oriented policies; and (iii) the unbalanced structure of manufacturing and services. These internal imbalances result from domestic distortions and structural imbalances arising from market inefficiencies and public policies. These must be addressed to ensure balanced and sustained economic growth.korea economic growth; korea external imbalances; korea trade

Endogenous Growth and the Real Interest Rate : Evaluating Koreas Low Interest Rate Regime

This paper attempts to evaluate Korea's low interest rate regime of the post-2000 period by estimating the, long-run equilibrium real rates using dynamic macroeconomic models. A unified endogenous growth model incorporating both R&D and human capital is constructed to ascertain the relative importance of various determinants of the real rate. The estimates of the long-run equilibrium rates for the unified model, the Solow model, and the Schumpeterian model are presented. The results show that (1) in all cases, the gap between the actual rate and the equilibrium rate seems to have been widening, and (2) estimates for the long-run equilibrium rates indicate that there has been no significant regime shift that would have justified the low interest rates of the post-2000 period, although the unified model shows that there has been a downward shift in the real rate in the 1990s mainly due to changes in human capital productivity

Determinants of Social Capital in Korea

This study investigates the determinants of social capital in Korea using the law compliance indicator as a measure of generalized trust. Unlike other measures for social capital, the compliance indicator has been compiled for each province in Korea. This novel feature allows for better identification strategies than the countrylevel data. With the panel data of 16 regions in Korea, we find that in the demographic factors, such as gender and age structure, the compliance indicator is low for males and the elderly. Among variables for economic activity, unemployment rate and per capita GRDP show statistically significant effects. Moreover, the causality tests between the compliance indicator and economic activity show bilateral directions as expected

The Optimal Structure of Technology Adoption and Creation: Basic Research vs. Development in the Presence of Distance to Frontier

This paper presents a theoretical model and empirical evidence to explain the observation that a country in which the level of technology approaches the technology frontier tends to rely more on technology creation than adoption, and to invest more in basic research than in development. The model shows that technology creation involves both basic and development research processes while technology adoption uses only the latter process. Thus, research and development (R&D) investment in our model involves three different processes: basic research in technology creation, development in technology creation, and development in technology adoption. The results suggest first, that the rate of growth is positively correlated with the level of basic research activities in the technology creation sector, if one country's technology gap with the technology frontier is small enough. Second, an increase in the efficiency of the education system for highly skilled workers raises the level of basic research and the rate of growth. Third, verifying these theoretical results, empirical analyses using panel data of Japan; Republic of Korea; and Taipei,China show that the narrower the technological distance to the frontier, the higher the growth effect of basic R&D, indicating that the share of basic R&D matters for economic growth. Last, these also show that the quality of tertiary education has a significantly positive effect on the productivity of R&D

Rebalancing Growth in the Republic of Korea

The current account surplus of the Republic of Korea (henceforth Korea) increased significantly in the immediate recovery period after the 1997–1998 Asian financial crisis. Since then the surplus has gradually diminished, and from 2006 to 2008, the current account was close to being balanced. Econometric analysis reveals that the effect of exchange rate changes on Korea's trade is not robust during non-crisis periods. Exchange rates only significantly affect trade when observations during crisis periods are included. This suggests that exchange rate adjustments alone will not solve the imbalance issue. Korea's external imbalances are not only caused by external factors; they also reflect internal and policy factors such as: (i) saving-investment imbalances; (ii) export-oriented policies; and (iii) the unbalanced structure of manufacturing and services. These internal imbalances result from domestic distortions and structural imbalances arising from market inefficiencies and public policies. These must be addressed to ensure balanced and sustained economic growth. [ADBI Working Paper 224]Republic of Korea, Asian, policy, domestic, economic

Rebalancing growth in the Republic of Korea

The current account surplus of the Republic of Korea (henceforth Korea) increased significantly in the immediate recovery period after the 1997 - 1998 Asian financial crisis. Since then the surplus has gradually diminished, and from 2006 to 2008, the current account was close to being balanced. Econometric analysis reveals that the effect of exchange rate changes on Korea's trade is not robust during non-crisis periods. Exchange rates only significantly affect trade when observations during crisis periods are included. This suggests that exchange rate adjustments alone will not solve the imbalance issue. Korea's external imbalances are not only caused by external factors; they also reflect internal and policy factors such as: (i) saving-investment imbalances; (ii) export-oriented policies; and (iii) the unbalanced structure of manufacturing and services. These internal imbalances result from domestic distortions and structural imbalances arising from market inefficiencies and public policies. These must be addressed to ensure balanced and sustained economic growth

Rebalancing Growth in the Republic of Korea

The current account surplus of the Republic of Korea (henceforth Korea) increased significantly in the immediate recovery period after the 19971998 Asian financial crisis. Since then the surplus has gradually diminished, and from 2006 to 2008, the current account was close to being balanced. Econometric analysis reveals that the effect of exchange rate changes on Korea's trade is not robust during non-crisis periods. Exchange rates only significantly affect trade when observations during crisis periods are included. This suggests that exchange rate adjustments alone will not solve the imbalance issue. Korea's external imbalances are not only caused by external factors; they also reflect internal and policy factors such as : (i) saving-investment imbalances; (ii) export-oriented policies; and (iii) the unbalanced structure of manufacturing and services. These internal imbalances result from domestic distortions and structural imbalances arising from market inefficiencies and public policies. These must be addressed to ensure balanced and sustained economic growth.current account surplus, Asian financial crisis, Korea, saving-investment imbalances, export-oriented policies

The Optimal Structure of Technology Adoption and Creation: Basic Research vs. Development in the Presence of Distance to Frontier

This paper presents a theoretical model and empirical evidence to explain the observation that a country in which the level of technology approaches the technology frontier tends to rely more on technology creation than adoption, and to invest more in basic research than in development. The model shows that technology creation involves both basic and development research processes while technology adoption uses only the latter process. Thus, research and development (R&D) investment in our model involves three different processes: basic research in technology creation, development in technology creation, and development in technology adoption. The results suggest first, that the rate of growth is positively correlated with the level of basic research activities in the technology creation sector, if one country’s technology gap with the technology frontier is small enough. Second, an increase in the efficiency of the education system for highly skilled workers raises the level of basic research and the rate of growth. Third, verifying these theoretical results, empirical analyses using panel data of Japan; Republic of Korea; and Taipei,China show that the narrower the technological distance to the frontier, the higher the growth effect of basic R&D, indicating that the share of basic R&D matters for economic growth. Last, these also show that the quality of tertiary education has a significantly positive effect on the productivity of R&D.Basic research; technology creation; technology adoption; economic growth

Wetting Transition of a Cylindrical Cavity Engraved on a Hydrophobic Surface

This study theoretically examines the wetting of a cylindrical cavity engraved on a hydrophobic surface, in the context of the Cassie–Baxter-to-Wenzel transition of a water drop resting on such a surface. The stable, metastable, and transition states and their free energies are identified by constructing the free-energy profile of the wetting process. Wetting starts with a liquid–vapor interface pinned at the top edge of the cavity and proceeds with a symmetrically depinned interface. The liquid–vapor interface later becomes annular upon its touching of the bottom of the cavity and finally asymmetric before the cavity is fully wetted by the liquid. This study examines the effects of the cavity geometry and the pressure of the liquid on the wetting and dewetting transitions