South Korea's Experience with International Capital Flows

No WP05-4, Working Paper Series from Peterson Institute for International Economics

Abstract: South Korea's experience is unparalleled in its combination of sustained prosperity, capital controls, and financial crisis. Over several decades, South Korea experienced rapid sustained growth in the presence of capital controls. These controls and the de-linking of domestic and international financial markets were an essential component of the country's state-led development strategy. As the country developed, opportunities for easy technological catch-up eroded, requiring more sophisticated corporate and financial sector decision-making, but decades of financial repression had bequeathed a bureaucratized financial system and a formidable constellation of incumbent stakeholders opposed to transition to a more market-oriented development model. Liberalization undertaken in the 1990s was less a product of textbook economic analysis than of parochial politicking. Capital account liberalization program affected the timing, magnitude, and particulars of the 1997-98 crisis. Despite considerable reforms undertaken since the crisis, concerns remain about both South Korea's lending culture and its authorities' capacity to successfully regulate the more complex financial system. The main lesson of the South Korean case appear to be that while the state-led model may deliver impressive initial gains, transitioning out of this approach presents an exceedingly complex challenge of political-economy.

Keywords: Korea; capital controls; financial crises; financial liberalization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F3 G15 O53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fin, nep-fmk and nep-sea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Related works:
Chapter: South Korea's Experience with International Capital Flows (2007)
Working Paper: South Korea's Experience with International Capital Flows (2005)
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