IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/lawdev/v11y2018i2p433-465n8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Law and Development: Lessons from South Korea

Author

Listed:
  • Lee Yong-Shik

    (The Law and Development Institute, Decatur30033, GA, USA)

Abstract

South Korea has achieved unprecedented economic and social development in history. This country, which had been among the poorest in the world until the early 1960s, became one of the world’s leading economies by the mid-1990s as demonstrated by high per-capita income and world-class industries. In the early 1960s, Korea had much of the characteristics shared by many developing countries today, such as prevalent poverty, low economic productivity, low levels of technology and entrepreneurship in society, insufficient capital, poor endowment of natural resources, over-population in a relatively small territory, and internal political instability and external threats to its security. Korea has successfully overcome these obstacles and achieved economic development within a single generation. Korea’s success in economic development was also accompanied by the advancement of the rule of law and elective democracy by the 1990s. What are the causes of this unprecedented success? This article, applying a recently developed theory of law and development, explores the legal and institutional dimensions of Korea’s development and draws lessons from its successful development.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee Yong-Shik, 2018. "Law and Development: Lessons from South Korea," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 11(2), pages 433-465, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:bpj:lawdev:v:11:y:2018:i:2:p:433-465:n:8
    DOI: 10.1515/ldr-2018-0026
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/ldr-2018-0026
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/ldr-2018-0026?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pranab Bardhan, 1993. "Economics of Development and the Development of Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(2), pages 129-142, Spring.
    2. Lee,Yong-Shik, 2016. "Reclaiming Development in the World Trading System," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107098930, October.
    3. John Brohman, 1996. "Postwar Development in the Asian NICs: Does the Neoliberal Model Fit Reality?," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(2), pages 107-130, April.
    4. Sae Ran Koh & Jai S. Mah, 2013. "The effect of export composition on economic growth: the case of Korea," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 47(1), pages 171-179, January-J.
    5. Alesina, Alberto & Özler, Sule & Roubini, Nouriel & Swagel, Phillip, 1996. "Political Instability and Economic Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 189-211, June.
    6. Haider A. Khan, 2004. "Global Markets and Financial Crises in Asia," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-0-230-00079-7, December.
    7. Westphal, Larry E, 1990. "Industrial Policy in an Export-Propelled Economy: Lessons from South Korea's Experience," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 41-59, Summer.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lee Yong-Shik, 2019. "A Note on Economic Development in North Korea: Call for a Comprehensive Approach," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 247-259, January.
    2. Lee Yong-Shik, 2019. "South Korean Economy at the Crossroads: Structure Issues under External Pressure – An Essay from a Law and Development Perspective," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 12(3), pages 865-885, October.
    3. Lee Yong-Shik, 2019. "Political Governance, Law, and Economic Development," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 12(3), pages 723-759, October.
    4. Lee Yong-Shik, 2020. "Law and Development: Three Irreconcilable Interests – Call for a New Beginning," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 321-333, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lee Yong-Shik, 2019. "Political Governance, Law, and Economic Development," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 12(3), pages 723-759, October.
    2. Lee Yong-Shik, 2019. "South Korean Economy at the Crossroads: Structure Issues under External Pressure – An Essay from a Law and Development Perspective," The Law and Development Review, De Gruyter, vol. 12(3), pages 865-885, October.
    3. Jeffrey Frankel, 2014. "Mauritius: African Success Story," NBER Chapters, in: African Successes, Volume IV: Sustainable Growth, pages 295-342, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Daniel Diermeier & Hulya Eraslan & Antonio Merlo, 2003. "The Effects of Constitutions on Coalition Governments in Parliamentary Democracies," PIER Working Paper Archive 03-037, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    5. Balima, Hippolyte Weneyam, 2020. "Coups d’état and the cost of debt," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 509-528.
    6. Robert MacCulloch & Silvia Pezzini, 2010. "The Roles of Freedom, Growth, and Religion in the Taste for Revolution," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(2), pages 329-358, May.
    7. Mare Sarr & Erwin Bulte & Chris Meissner & Tim Swanson, 2011. "On the looting of nations," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 148(3), pages 353-380, September.
    8. Nahapetyan Yervand, 2019. "The benefits of the Velvet Revolution in Armenia: Estimation of the short-term economic gains using deep neural networks," Central European Economic Journal, Sciendo, vol. 6(53), pages 286-303, January.
    9. Jian-Guang Shen, 2002. "Democracy and growth: An alternative empirical approach," Development and Comp Systems 0212002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Ahmet Faruk Aysan & …mer Faruk Baykal & Marie-Ange Véganzonès–Varoudakis, 2011. "The Effects of Convergence in Governance on Capital Accumulation in the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Countries," Chapters, in: Mehmet Ugur & David Sunderland (ed.), Does Economic Governance Matter?, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Chen, Mo & Xue, Wei-Xian & Zhao, Xin-Xin & Chang, Chun-Ping & Liu, Xiaoxia, 2024. "The impact of economic sanctions on the COVID-19 pandemic," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 163-174.
    12. Johannes Blum & Klaus Gründler, 2020. "Political Stability and Economic Prosperity: Are Coups Bad for Growth?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8317, CESifo.
    13. Ahmet Faruk AYSAN & Mustapha Kamel NABLI & Marie‐Ange VÉGANZONÈS‐VAROUDAKIS, 2007. "Governance Institutions And Private Investment: An Application To The Middle East And North Africa," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 45(3), pages 339-377, September.
    14. Marattin, Luigi & Marzo, Massimiliano & Zagaglia, Paolo, 2013. "Distortionary tax instruments and implementable monetary policy," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 219-243.
    15. Amir-ud-Din, Rafi & Rashid, Abdul & Ahmad, Shabbir, 2008. "Democracy, Inequality and Economic Development: The Case of Pakistan," MPRA Paper 26935, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Yong‐Shik Lee, 2020. "New general theory of economic development: Innovative growth and distribution," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 402-423, May.
    17. Shaukat, Badiea & Zhu, Qigui & Khan, M. Ijaz, 2019. "Real interest rate and economic growth: A statistical exploration for transitory economies," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 534(C).
    18. Philip Barrett & Mariia Bondar & Sophia Chen & Mali Chivakul & Deniz Igan, 2024. "Pricing protest: the response of financial markets to social unrest," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 28(4), pages 1419-1450.
    19. Andrea Asoni, 2008. "Protection Of Property Rights And Growth As Political Equilibria," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(5), pages 953-987, December.
    20. James A Kahn & Jong-Soo Lim, 2001. "Finite Horizons, Political Economy, and Growth," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 4(1), pages 1-25, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:lawdev:v:11:y:2018:i:2:p:433-465:n:8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.