• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.55-92
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• 2005

This study examines how the difference in trade openness across manufacturing industries in Korea affects firm's employment strategies and industrial relations, utilizing the Korean establishment panel data. In terms of firm's employment strategy, it is found that trade openness is not associated with a particular employment strategy such as labor cost saving strategy or innovation strategy. This result is consistent with the previous findings that trade liberalization merely affects wages and employment. Moreover, this result disproves, at least for the Korean manufacturing, a general belief that when the domestic market is opened to foreign competition, firms will adopt and rely on labor cost saving strategy intensely. The obtained result concerning the relationship between trade openness and industrial relations is more interesting and informative. It is found that trade openness is positively associated with cooperative industrial relations. Furthermore, the positive relationship is reenforced when the establishment is unionized. This implies that management and union cooperate when they are faced with increased foreign competition as a result of trade liberalization.

• 한국유가공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.43-57
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• 2003

The liberalization of imports under the system of World Trade Organization (WTO) will provide a serious impact on Korean dairy industry when foreign competitive dairy products are introduced from any countries in the world. With the importation of dairy products, Korean dairy industry may bring about the limitation of raw milk production, decline of the working ration in facilities and loss of diversification of dairy products. Therefore, Korean dairy industry should prepare high quality dairy products to secure international competitions against the opening of importation. In conclusion, development of high quality and functional dairy products that are satisfied to consumers are the most important subjects to overcome the adverse circumstance as WTO. This report reviews the direction of the diversification of dairy products in the Era of trade liberalization.

• Journal of Agricultural Extension & Community Development
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.47-56
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• 1994

From 1995, the WTO(World Trade Organization) system will be activated in the world market. Therefore more liberalization in agricultural are expected. Korean farmers should be trained to overcome the difficulty due to trade liberalization. The non-formal education for farmers is carried out by various forms but does not fit need of farmers mostly. The moor part of non formal training was focused on agricultural skills so there must be more emphasis on non-agricultural skills. There are some lacks in linkage between training and government support for trainees. So more support for farmers trainees such as aspects(for example cure finanical support) and non economic support(for example the raising of farmers morale) are needed.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.3-25
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• 2013

This paper evaluates whether the proposed FTAAP is a desirable policy option for APEC member economies and the world economy. More specifically, this paper qualitatively investigates whether the FTAAP satisfies conditions for a trade bloc to generate positive and sufficient net trade creation effect. In addition, this paper estimates the likely impact of the FTAAP by using a CGE model analysis. From the qualitative analysis based on statistical data, this paper strongly argues that the FTAAP can be a desirable regional trade bloc able to generate positive gains from freer trade. From the ex-ante scenario analysis using both static and capital accumulation CGE Models, this paper concludes that the FTAAP has great potential for improving welfare of participating APEC economies and will boost economic growth in the region. In particular, the FTAAP would be even better if it can be linked with liberalization of trade in services and enhanced trade facilitation.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.96-114
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• 2023

Purpose - This paper elucidates a nexus between the occurrence of rare disaster events and the volatility of economic growth by distinguishing the likelihood of rare events from stochastic volatility. We provide new empirical facts based on a quarterly time series. In particular, we focus on the role of financial liberalization in spreading the economic crisis in developing countries. Design/methodology - We use quarterly data on consumption expenditure (real per capita consumption) from 44 countries, including advanced and developing countries, ending in the fourth quarter of 2020. We estimate the likelihood of rare event occurrences and stochastic volatility for countries using the Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method developed by Barro and Jin (2021). We present our estimation results for the relationship between rare disaster events, stochastic volatility, and growth volatility. Findings - We find the global common disaster event, the COVID-19 pandemic, and thirteen country-specific disaster events. Consumption falls by about 7% on average in the first quarter of a disaster and by 4% in the long run. The occurrence of rare disaster events and the volatility of gross domestic product (GDP) growth are positively correlated (4.8%), whereas the rare events and GDP growth rate are negatively correlated (-12.1%). In particular, financial liberalization has played an important role in exacerbating the adverse impact of both rare disasters and financial market instability on growth volatility. Several case studies, including the case of South Korea, provide insights into the cause of major financial crises in small open developing countries, including the Asian currency crisis of 1998. Originality/value - This paper presents new empirical facts on the relationship between the occurrence of rare disaster events (or stochastic volatility) and growth volatility. Increasing data frequency allows for greater accuracy in assessing a country's specific risk. Our findings suggest that financial market and institutional stability can be vital for buffering against rare disaster shocks. It is necessary to preemptively strengthen the foundation for financial stability in developing countries and increase the quality of the information provided to markets.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.23-51
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• 2009

This research alms at quantifying economic impacts of free trading policy on environment-friendly fuel industry applying a static general equilibrium (CGE) model for Korea. Theoretically, 'polluters haven' hypothesis had been debated as major issue on the environmental effects of trade liberalization during 1970s and 1980s but recent literature emphasizes that production, scale, structural, and regulatory effects may derive rapid diffusion of environment friendly technologies. In this study, trade liberalization policy affects output of agricultural sectors negatively while that of biodiesel as environment-friendly technology positively. The rise m the output of biodiesel is derived from the reduction in import prices of agricultural products due to the abolishment of tariff. The policy implication from the analysis is that feedstock for producing biodiesel should be exploited in the foreign countries where productivity of agriculture is quite predominant compared to Korean agriculture.

• International Area Studies Review
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.695-728
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• 2009

This study aims to conduct a quantitative assessment of potential economic impacts on the Korean economy of the concessions of the Korea-U.S. FTA (KORUS FTA) which was signed on April 1, 2007 using a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, with all sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing sectors and services industry, considered for simulations. In addition, the timing of trade liberalization based on the concessions agreed on in the KORUS FTA talks for all sectors is explicitly considered. Major findings of this study are that Korea' real GDP would rise by 4.67%~4.99% by 2023 and the contribution of liberalization of services trade to Korea's economic growth would be 0.3%~0.62% points. Trade liberalization in service sectors would lead to lowered import prices and an increase in FDI, which are to contribute to an higher output and exports of sectors which make an intensive use of imported inputs and finally a higher economic growth of the Korean economy as a whole. For that to happen, a ratification of the KORUS FTA by the National Assembly of Korea and the U.S. Congress is required.

• East Asian Economic Review
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.389-416
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• 2020

This paper provides empirical evidence on the reorganization of GVCs in East Asia, highlighting that structural trends explain a decrease in the fragmentation of production after 2011 but that it is not the result of rising trade costs along the value chain. Using harmonized inter-country input-output tables, the paper first analyzes the global import intensity of production to document changes in the structure of GVCs. It then calculates theory-consistent bilateral trade costs for intermediate and final products using an approach derived from the gravity literature and introduces a new index of cumulative trade costs along the value chain. These data are used to discuss whether the decrease in global imports is the consequence of shifts in demand, efficiency-enhancing strategies of firms or rising trade costs. Between 2011 and 2016, cumulative trade costs have decreased in East Asian GVCs. However, as COVID-19 is likely to intensify trade and investment uncertainties, trade costs could increase in the future. Policies aimed at reducing uncertainties and preserving the gains from trade and investment liberalization will be key in this new environment.

• THE INTERNATIONAL COMMERCE & LAW REVIEW
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• v.69
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• pp.371-388
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• 2016

International air transport for cargo services is a facilitator for various trade sectors and, by itself, an important service industry. Although international air cargo industry is expected to grow continuously, industry stakeholders complain about legal constraints in the industry and demand more liberalized regime. From its birth at the beginning of the 20th century, the airline industry was tightly regulated by governments with a strong tradition of protectionism. In the past few decades, however, protectionism in the airline industry has steadily declined. Indeed, the airline industry is largely in the process of liberalization. Interestingly, it has been easier to liberalize air cargo service than passenger service. Indeed, states have traditionally shown far more willingness to provide market access for foreign carriers carrying cargo than passengers. Given the impact of air cargo service in a state's wider economy and own characteristics of cargo services (i.e. air cargo traffic is inherently one-way, unlike passenger traffic, which tends to involve round trips), more liberalized approach is necessary for air cargo services. Among three approaches: bilateral, regional (block-based) and multilateral, it is desirable to adopt a multilateral treaty (a new multilateral all-cargo agreement) so as to harmonize and simplify complicated trade regulations on air cargo services.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.217-240
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• 2013

The investment environment in Korea and U.S. dramatically changed since Korea-US FTA. The key reasons for this successful change were liberalization and strengthened protection of investment along with trade liberalization which also brought investment market expansion. As the result of trade-diversion effect, investments between two countries have been enormously increased. Through a FTA with the big economy like US, Korea's FTA network has been largely expanded. Korea further needs to utilize this outcome when competing with other countries in investment markets.