• Korea Trade Review
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.215-238
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• 2018

Tariff reduction from FTAs are applied to imported goods, but not to traveler's goods. There are difficulties in meeting the FTA's conditions for free tariff application, such as origin of goods and direct transportation. This study suggests the optimal cut-off level of a simple tax rate applied to traveler's goods with respect to traveler' welfare and government tax revenue. Among three different scenarios of simple tax reductions by ordering its weighted magnitude of effects, the optimal tariff was found to be 2% applied to all goods. The effects of a 2% reduction of simple tax rate would increase traveler' welfare by 16.8 billion won and reduce tax revenue by only 0.34 billion won.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.53-82
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• 2002

Earlier papers, regarding this topic, have shown that the optimal environmental tax rate under the second best situation typically smaller than that under the first best world, the well known Pigouvian tax. This paper casts a doubt on the generality of this result, since the conclusion was derived from the models which employed rather strict assumptions on the utility function, which is homothetic and separable. This paper, with simple-static CGE model, shows that the result of earlier studies is sensitive to the assumption on the utility function. According to the simulation results, as previous studies pointed out, if the utility function is assumed to be homothetic, the optimal environmental tax rate is smaller than the Pigouvian tax. In contrast, if certain type of non-homotheticity is allowed, the optimal environmental tax rate could be greater than the Pigouvian tax. The results of this simulation also imply that the enlargement of environmental tax base could enhance the efficiency of overall tax system. Hence, there will be a less burden to share for the tax authority from the policy change.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.397-425
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• 2003

This paper develops a simple theoretical model that is consistent with the empirical evidence of an inverted U-shpated relationship between pollution and per capita income, which is so-called environmental Kuznets curve in this literature. Also, by incorporating the issue of environmental externality into an endogenous growth model, I investigate the circumstances under which growth can be sustained with the optimal control of pollution, and hence the sustainable development can be achieved. In order to study the problem of implementing the social optimum in a market economy, I examine the optimality of three different kinds of environmental policy instruments; pollution tax, pollution-permit trading system (pollution voucher), and direct regulation. This paper shows that the optimum can be implemented with a pollution tax or with a voucher system. Also, it is shown that the socially optimal rate of pollution tax should increase proportionally to the growth rate of consumption.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.141-153
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• 1991

The optimal choice of the tax rate and the inflation rate framework is extended to yield relevant interpretations for the optimal fiscal and monetary policy regime in Korea. To study the relationship between the government budget and monetary growth in different environments of policy coordination, two models assuming different degrees of fiscal dominance are developed. By modelling differing institutional arrangements of the fiscal and the monetary authority from an optimal government finance viewpoint, we find the optimal relationship among some important fiscal and monetary variables. By testing the existence of the relationship empirically, we find the characteristics of the optimal policy-mix regime in Korea. The first model-the strong from of fiscal dominance-studies the optimal collection of seigniorage in a period-by-period optimization with standard assumptions on the income velocity of money, deriving a general testable result: the optimal inflation/tax rate ratio co-vary with the marginal revenue ratio. The second model-the weak form of fiscal dominance-studies an implication of the inflationary bias of discretionary monetary policy in the presence of fiscal side distortions. This model shows that the tax rate and the inflation rate can have a positive correlation. Empirical tests of the theoretical results are done for the Korean economy for 1972-1989 period. The test results show that the macroeconomic policy regime in Korea can be characterized by the strong form of fiscal dominance, implying the importance of the government budget in explaining money growth and inflation.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.1-24
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• 2020

This study aims to analyze the export effects of Korea-Canada FTA's tariff reduction, which was launched on January 1, 2015. First, as a groundwork, this study reviewed trade creation and trade diversion by investigating all possible cases of both initial FTA and additional FTA. The review was done by using the simple model of three countries assuming FTA means elimination of tariff. The review suggested that additional FTA doesn't have any negative impact on import country's social welfare contrary to initial FTA. In additional FTA, Trade diversion could happen between FTA partner countries, but it always increases import country's social welfare. In this sense, it can be called favorable trade diversion. Second, this study analyzed the export effects of Korea-Canada FTA using Clausing's product level model based on Canadian government import data from Korea which is not open to the public. It turned out that Korea-Canada FTA's tariff reduction boosted Canadian import growth rate from Korea. On the other hand, Canadian import growth rate from rest of the world was not negatively affected by Korea-Canada FTA's tariff reduction. Rather, it increased as Canadian import growth rate from Korea was higher. These findings implied trade creation rather than trade diversion of Korea-Canada FTA when it comes to Korea's export to Canada.

• Journal of Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.91-101
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• 1988

Break-even analysis is a simple and useful tool in decisions and planning activities though its use is somewhat limited to short-term analysis. The subject is discussed in the fields of engineering economics, production management, cost and managerial accounting, finance, marketing, and so on. Conventional break-even analysis suits the case of stable price and low interest rate. In this paper, we try to overcome the limit by considering following factors, namely, time value of money, depreciation, tax, and capital gains. Also, considering learning effect, we increase applicability to a new project which raises certain changes such as a replacement of production process, an employee turnover, etc. Thus, we suggest a model which has a dynamic break-even quantity per period for the project. Furthermore, we examine the effect of inflation in break-even analysis.