• The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.135-154
• /
• 2007

The 3 Northeast Asian countries of Korea, Japan and China have been stricter to each other than to other countries of out-region in air liberalization. The prominent reason of this intra-regional protective policy in air transportation seems to be the difference in competitive strength of their national flag carriers. As the 3 countries realize the importance of their mutual cooperation in the region, since China grows to be one of the leading economies in the world and the intra-regional trade and visitors increase tremendously, they are now taking the policy of intra-regional air liberalization more vigorously than before. Especially air cargo liberalization is easier than air passenger liberalization because they realize that the development of open economy is based on free flow of logistics regardless of the competitiveness of their national flag carriers. As Korea is the leading country in the region to promote air liberalization, this paper reviews the importance and growing trend of air cargo, analyzes current air liberalization policy between Korea, Japan and China and the initial effects of open sky in the routes of Shandung-Korea, and suggests the new policies of air liberalization to promote free flow of air logistics.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.289-297
• /
• 2021

Purpose - This study analyzed the correlation between economic liberalization and foreign direct investment. The purpose of this study is to seek ways to attract foreign direct investment from developing countries. Design/methodology/approach - This study analysed with observations of 19 from 2000 to 2018 using a fixed effect model, a random effect model, and a two-way fixed effect model. Findings - First, it was found that economic liberalization had a positive effect on attracting foreign direct investment in the early stages of economic liberalization. Second, it was found that economic liberalization in the deepening stage of economic liberalization had a negative effect on attracting foreign direct investment. In general, it was found that the higher the level of economic liberalization in developing countries is not accompanied by innovative changes in the industrial structure, the higher the level of economic liberalization is likely to decrease the inducement of foreign direct investment due to negative factors such as an increase in labor costs. Overall, this study approved that Economic liberalization have a non-linear (inverted U-shape) relationship with the inflow of foreign direct investment. Research implications or Originality - First, this study attempted to expand the variables for the determinants of FDI by analyzing economic factors which is a determinent of FDI. Second, economic liberalization generally has a positive effect on foreign direct investment, but it proved that it does not have only positive effects as a factor of attracting foreign direct investment in developing countries. The advantage of low wages in ASEAN countries acts as a factor for foreign direct investment, but as the degree of economic liberalization increases, the environment such as government size, guarantee of property rights, international trade freedom, fiscal soundness, and regulations change positively. On the other hand, it can be suggested that if the industrial level is less, it may lead to a loss of comparative advantage and a decrease in investment.

• Journal of Korea Port Economic Association
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.3-26
• /
• 2001

Competitive and reliable maritime transport services benefit the economy as a whole, and are key efficiency factors for the production of both goods and services. Although maritime transport sector is very liberalized compared to many other service sectors, certain obstacles must be overcome before full liberalization of the maritime transport can be realized. Particularly, maritime transport services in Northeast Asia are regulated by a complicated and outdated system. To remove these barkers two approaches can be used: a regional trading arrangement approach and a multilateral approach via WTO. However, multilateral efforts are not likely to be successful in achieving any concrete progress towards maritime transport liberalization in the short- to medium-term in Northeast Asia. Consequently, it may be the best to take the following two progressive approaches and to make them work towards liberalization of the maritime transport market: a bilateral approach and a trilateral approach. A gradual process of liberalization would expand the market, help operators achieve economies of scale, promote the international division of labor and specialization, enhance the effective management of shipping services, and promote the long-term interests and welfare of the user by improving service quality and diversifying services. A liberalized and integrated maritime transport market in Northeast Asia should achieve both of these long-run policy objectives by benefiting both the transport service users and the transport service providers. In order to move the maritime transport liberalization programs as quickly as possible, it is desirable to establish a "Regional Maritime Transport Liberalization Committee." We suggest it to be a Tripartite (China, Japan and Korea) Committee initially, which can later expand its membership to include other Northeast Asian countries.

• Journal of Korea Trade
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.129-144
• /
• 2019

Purpose - Recent empirical studies have reached mixed results on the effects of financial liberalization and currency crises. We argue that this relationship is likely to depend both on whether controls are primarily on the degrees of financial liberalization and on the stability of the government. Using the disaggregated data on financial liberalization recently developed by Abiad et al (2010) for a sample of 30 emerging countries over the period 1995-2015, we attempt to investigate the political economy determinants of currency crises. Design/methodology - Our empirical model considers the relationship between financial liberalization and currency crises for emerging market economies. This study employs the existing theoretical framework to identify the disaggregate level for financial liberalization across countries. Using a multivariate logit model, this study attempts to estimate the interrelationship among financial liberalization, government stability and currency crises complemented by a case study of South Korea. Findings - Our main findings can be summarized as follows: we find strong support for the proposition that more liberalized financial institutions are positively associated with the probability of currency crises especially under less stable governments, but reduce the risks of currency crises especially for more stable governments. We also examine the role of financial systems with the case of South Korea after Asian financial crises and the results are further supported and consistent with the empirical findings. Originality/value - Existing studies focus on the economic factors across countries. This paper instead attempts to evaluate the effects of financial liberalization and currency crises by incorporating political considerations with newly developed dataset on financial liberalization, which are essential to the understanding of the causes of currency crises.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
• /
• v.8 no.11
• /
• pp.203-212
• /
• 2021

Theoretically, economic growth necessitates financial liberalization. Thus, the current research examines the effect of financial liberalization on economic growth in emerging nations, with a particular focus on Egypt and Saudi Arabia. To determine this effect, the study employs a model that uses Gross Domestic Product growth as the dependent variable and the following macroeconomic variables as financial liberalization indices: Broad money as a percentage of GDP, Domestic bank credit to the private sector as a percentage of GDP, Monetary sector credit to the private sector as a percentage of GDP, Net inflows of foreign direct investment as a percentage of GDP. All data is annual data of Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the period 1970-2018 obtained from the World Bank open data website. The empirical investigation employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. The findings indicate that, after more than three decades of implementation, both countries' financial and external liberalization policies do not have a favorable effect on their economies' growth rates. Additionally, this study has led us to conclude that any financial liberalization policy in both countries must be preceded by the strengthening of these countries' financial development and institutional frameworks, as well as the achievement of macroeconomic stability.

• Economic Analysis
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.30-51
• /
• 2011

Since the previous studies on the effects of trade liberalization implicitly assume that trade liberalization affects economic performance only in any point in time, they inevitably are static. Static evaluations fail to account for cumulative dynamic effects of trade liberalization that affect continuously economic performance. This paper tries to fill this gap of the previous studies in this field, estimating cumulative effects of trade liberalization on economic performance by employing an dynamic version of empirical model. One of important empirical issue is controlling bias from endogeneity. To resolve this problem, this paper employes system GMM that uses lagged first-differences as instruments for level equations and lagged levels as instruments for first-differences equations. It improves upon cross-section estimators because it controls for the potential bias induced by the omission of industry-specific effects and the endogeneity of all regressors. This study investigates the effects of trade liberalization in Korean manufacturing for the period from 1988 to 2005 and finds that cumulative dynamic effects of trade liberalization are present and bigger than static effects.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.525-556
• /
• 2002

This paper investigates effect of gasoline price liberalization on price elasticity of gasoline demand. By using a model where a consumer optimizes her gasoline consumption and number of visits to gas station, we derive price elasticity of gasoline demand and its response to variation of size and frequency in price changes. It shows that price elasticity is decreased with increase in the size and frequency when the price rises. Since price liberalization increases the frequency but reduces the size, the effect of the liberalization on the price elasticity may not be determined. However, price liberalization can make the elasticity higher when the size reduction effect exceeds the frequency increase effect, which is consistent with empirical evidence provided by existing studies.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
• /
• v.43 no.1
• /
• pp.53-80
• /
• 2021

The main objective of this study is to determine whether there have been TFP increases in the Korean manufacturing sector due to trade liberalization since the 1990s. Based on the methodology proposed by Pavcnik (2002), which focuses on the channel through which trade liberalization measures enhance overall industrial productivity by triggering the exit of low-productivity firms, this study tests the following two hypotheses: first, the TFP increase in the Korean tradable industry is not higher than that in the non-tradable industry, and second, plants with lower TFP levels did not exit from the tradable industry. Through the rejection of these two hypotheses, it is possible to infer indirectly the effect of trade liberalization on firm productivity rates in Korea since the 1990s. First, this analysis reveals that since the 1990s, the TFP of the tradable sector compared to the non-tradable sector presented a statistically meaningful increase only in the 2000s, when China joined the WTO and trade increased sharply between Korea and China. Secondly, TFP growth in the tradable sector was positively affected by exits, as it was plants with lower TFP levels that ceased to exist.

• East Asian Economic Review
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.363-394
• /
• 2012

WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) was designed to liberalize and expand trade in government procurement. Revised GPA was implemented in 1996 and the latest revision was completed (but not yet implemented) in 2012, but as a plurilateral agreement. Since the end of the UR, there has been attempts by various WTO members to liberalize trade in the government procurement market - through an expansion of Parties who are signatories to GPA, and through a negotiated agreement on transparency in government procurement. The attempt to expand the Parties who are signatories to the GPA - attempt to increase the width of the coverage of the agreement - has been somewhat successful, but I argue that the goal should be to further liberate the government procurement markets of the current Party members - to reduce thresholds and other barriers which limit market access even to other GPA members, in other words, to increase the depth of coverage. Taking cue from Korea's FTA, I propose a two-level liberalization of the government procurement market under the GPA: A "light" level which would be the same as the current level of liberalization; and a "deep" level with lower thresholds and less exemptions. I argue that, as seen in Korea, with FTAs, many GPA Parties already have multiple levels of liberalization (i.e, spaghetti-bowl effect of FTAs), but by limiting the levels of liberalization to two, we can seek the best of deep liberalization but reduce the spaghetti-bowl effect.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
• /
• v.10 no.1
• /
• pp.76-82
• /
• 2008

Most of the students in middle and high schools today wear school uniforms. The school uniform is the most important and intimate clothes in adolescences and makes students feel a sense of group identity and belonging, and lessen the difference of economical capabilities. However levels of satisfaction is low because school uniforms do not express their individualities and do not keep up with the fashion. In this paper, we studied the partial liberalization of schools uniforms to raise the levels of satisfaction. The subjects were 378 male and female students from middle schools and high school in Ulsan, and a questionnaire was sent out. The survey was conducted in February 2007, and frequency analysis, ${\chi}^2$-analysis, and t-test were used for the analysis of the data. The results are as follows: The students recognized the partial liberalization of the dress code as loosening of the regulation As the result of analysis on attitudes toward the partial liberalization of the dress code, most of the students support the introduction of the plan. They chose a shirt as the most appropriate item and length as the best extent in liberalization. Among the elements of school uniform required to be unified, they selected a jacket and design as the item and extent, respectively. Through this study, we came to know the demands of students for school uniform and confirmed the possibility of the partial liberalization of the dress code as an improvement of consumer-oriented school uniform. In the future, it seems that their desires would be accepted and reflected in the design and school uniforms would be manufactured from the view point of consumer.