Articles

South Korea’s miracle, or not gods but humans make pots

Vostok/Oriens '2018, №3

DOI: 10.31857/S086919080000052-4

 
The article analyses important trends and components of the Republic of Korea’s (RK) phenomenal economic developments in the 1960–2010s. Main factors that contributed to the realization of the catching up and outpacing development of the RK are the synergy of the state and private sectors, the state’s and society’s concentration on the building up a competitive economy and its further growth through the up-to-date implementation of well-balanced effective reforms. National qualities of Koreans helping this economic growth are perseverance, self-organization, commitment and patriotism. These qualities were influenced by the Confucian culture and developed to a large extent over decades. Their development was facilitated by the years of colonial dependence, confrontation with the North, and tough international competition. The article analyses the recent tendency of the slowdown in the RK’s economic growth. Its causes are the exhaustion of the growth opportunities through the export-oriented model, shift of labour into more capital-intensive and productive sectors, further increase of investments due to their decreasing effectiveness, increase of a working day duration and of a number of years at school. The RK needs to further boost the intensive factors of economic growth. The article also states that despite a number of arising economic and social imbalances, their scale is comparatively limited and, in general, the South Korea’s economy, based at large on the total factor productivity’s dynamics, is growing at a faster rate than that of other developed countries.

Keywords: South Korea’s model, economic growth, factors of growth, efficiency, problems and proportions of development

Pages: С. 148–162