Emerging Markets Studies – serie

South Korea underwent a dramatic change in the last one and a half decades, from being considered a «tiger in trouble» in the wake of the Asian crisis to a showcase of economic development. The judgment of 1998 was itself a complete reversal of the previous enthusiastic reviews of world record-high growth for several decades, from the 1960s to the 1990s. Korea, once considered a shrimp between two mighty whales, Japan and China, veritably made a jump to become a tiger. And, after the steep decline of 1998, this tiger again showed its claws. This book deals not with the causes of the crisis in retrospect, but rather with the implications for the development of a new economic model in South Korea. It argues that the crisis and the following institutional change can best be understood by applying the theory of economic transformation.

This book investigates the institutional underpinnings of the relatively strong economic performance in Central Asian countries since their independence. The New Institutional Economics as well as Political Economy approaches provide the conceptual framework for case studies. All contributions consider factor markets and institutions as fundamental drivers of economic growth. This volume scrutinizes the evolution, design, and performance of factor markets in the region including land and natural resources, labor, physical and human capital.

Kazakhstan has become a successful market reformer under the leadership of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. But what type of a market economy has emerged in the country since 1991? This book focuses on Kazakhstan’s transition path, examines the role of the state in steering economic processes, and analyses the state – business interaction. The Varieties of Capitalism approach and a core – periphery analytical framework are applied to classify the evolving model of capitalist economy in the country in detail. The research design is based on a qualitative cross-sectional interview study, where 159 semi-structured interviews were conducted. This study makes an innovative contribution to the scholarly literature on the economic and institutional transition of Kazakhstan.

State intervention in economic activities to drive development requires specificinstitutional prerequisites that maintain strategic collaboration between thestate and businesses. Arguing that the design of institutions of state businessrelations is critical for successful state intervention in economic activities, thisbook seeks to understand the nature of the institutions of the state-agribusinessrelations in Georgia and its functional compatibilities to the institutionsof strategic SBRs. It analyses the nature of SBRs in Georgia through the lensof the New Institutional Economics (NIE). It employs a qualitative researchstrategy for the systematic collection, organization, and interpretation of thedata. Data from 39 interviews, documents on relevant regulations and laws,and the reports from the international organizations are triangulated to addressthe research question.

What is the economic order of state capitalism? Furthermore,how can its significant performance differences be explained? The firstquestion is tackled with the help of New Institutional Economics by developinga model of state capitalism. This topic is furthermore dealt with in Chapter 3 wherea taxonomy of state capitalism is presented. This chapter already explains someof the performance differences. In the last chapter with the help ofsemi-structured interviews and literature surveys – in four case studies –propositions are forwarded as to why state capitalist orders vary so widely intheir performances. Two points stick out: the quality of the bureaucracy aswell as a varying degree of commitment of the political leadership to adevelopmental course.

Korea as a “middle power” in the last decades saw a growing importance, partly through greater economic clout, partly through greater cultural and soft power (“K-pop”), and partly through collective action in institutions like G 20. However, recent instability in Northeast Asia, plus growing trade conflicts and political conflicts in the region and worldwide, endanger this position. Moreover, the tremendous rise of China in economic, geo-political and cultural terms overshadowed the Korean development. However, also here the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative seems to dominate the headlines, as well as the policy fora and practical business decisions. Therefore, this book discusses an urgent, indeed pressing topic: how can middle powers like South Korea and Germany benefit from closer economic and political linkages across the Eurasian landmass, in particular the Belt and Road Initiative dominated by China.? Should they rather jump on the bandwagon or should they follow distinct own initiatives, either in their region or inter-regionally?

The book takes issue with the changing role of government in devising and applying science, technology and innovation (STI) policies in a late-comer economy. South Korea is presented as a point in case, due to its astonishing ascent from a developing nation in the 1960s, to an emerging market in the 1980s and a high-technology powerhouse of our days. Which incentives have kept the government focused on productivity-enhancing STI policies? And why should Korea’s national innovation system be reconfigured to fully prepare for the technological challenges of the 21st century? An institutional economics perspective complemented by expert interviews shows that organizations and institutions concerned with STI policy-making in Korea have co-evolved simultaneously mainly driven by the timing of presidential election cycles. The book contains a summary in Korean.