Did government policy influence the development of large local firms and/or business groups in South Korea? What have been some of the long run benefits and problematic legacies of such policies?

Résumé du document

The South-Korean state's industrialization programs achieved national economic ob-jectives through the use of government economic policies, defined as “measures by which a government attempts to influence the economy” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008). This paper focus on three government economic policies namely ‘Export-oriented in-dustries' (EOI), ‘Heavy and Chemical industries'(HCI) and ‘Financial Liberalization'(FL). It argues these policies influenced the development of business groups, called chae-bols. They consist of “large companies in highly diversified business areas, owned and managed by family members or relatives” (cited in Thomson 1998, 139). Long run benefits and problematic legacies resulted from these policies from 1960s to 1997. This essay is split into four parts. In the three first parts each policy discusses the influence on the develop-ment of the business groups and the resulting problems and benefits, respectively. The fourth part (4) attempts to analyze some common problems and benefits that are present in these three policies.

Extraits

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