Research Activities
Research Projects
FY 2015/2016 Research Topic: C-39
Socio-economic Analysis of South Korea in the Low Growth Era
Outline
Recently the growth rate of the South Korean economy has been slowing down. One of the reasons for the low growth rate is the rapidly declining birth rate and growing proportion of elderly people, which results in a decrease in the economically active population and depresses private consumption. To cope with this problem, the South Korean government needs to strengthen the social welfare system, but there is little social consensus on how to deal with the increase in the welfare burden.
Another reason for the slow growth rate is the decline in the international competitiveness of Korean industries, which have been faced with sluggish exports. Many Korean companies have succeeded in catching up with companies from advanced countries in the export market, but few have succeeded in becoming the global industry leader on the technological level. Now, they are facing the rapidly catching up Chinese companies in the world market.
The aim of this study is to comprehensively analyze the recent social and economic problems of South Korea. In the analysis, we emphasize the comparison with the so-called "20 lost years" in Japan.
Period
April 2015 - March 2017
Members of the Research Project
| [ Organizer ] | ABE Makoto |
| [ Co-researchers ] | WATANABE Yuichi |
| [ Co-researchers ] | OKUDA Satoru (Professor, Institute of Asian Studies, Asia University) |
| [ Co-researchers ] | TAKAYASU Yuichi (Professor, Faculty of Economics, Daito Bunka University) |
Publications
- First year: Interim Report (in Japanese) issued in March 2016
- Second year: IDE Selected Books Series