Abstract
Abstract Perhaps the most striking fact about today’s Korea is that income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient, top income share, or poverty rate is now among the highest in industrial countries. For example, the concentration of income and wealth at the very top of distribution has recently surged to unprecedented levels. Many Koreans believe that luck, birth, connections, and corruption, rather than individual efforts, increasingly determine income and wealth. The so-called Great Gatsby Curve is becoming a socioeconomic phenomenon. There is a risk that mounting popular discontent with the current system undermines the foundation of a capitalist democracy and creates a breeding ground for populism. Motivated by this background, Chapter 5 addresses some of the most significant questions and issues on the inequality of income and wealth, including how the income distribution has evolved in recent years; whether and how the wealthy differ from the rest in Korea; and how and why inequalities and social polarization matter for the Korean economy. It also considers the controversial debate about labor income share.
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