Abstract
The economic development of South Korea since 1960 is one of the biggest success stories in the history of development. In just a few decades, South Korea transformed itself from an agricultural society to an industrialized nation exporting high-technology products such as cars, TVs, mobile phones or computers. Furthermore, after more than two decades of authoritarian rule South Korea changed relatively peacefully to a democratic society in 1987. On the other hand, many developing countries in Africa, Latin America or South Asia still face economic stagnation and enormous development problems: Poverty, inequality, bad health, a low life expectancy, illiteracy, ethnic and religious conflicts and discrimination of women are a daily occurrence. Observing these large differences in the development level of South Korea and today’s developing countries, this article explores, what numerous underperforming countries can learn from the South Korean development model. This article argues that it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for today’s developing countries to imitate the South Korean development model by simply adopting similar policies and formal institutions because, apart from conventional explications, informal institutions shaped by Confucianism (“Asian values”) and specific historical circumstances played a key role in the economic development of South Korea. Nevertheless, there are still some lessons to be learnt from South Korea.
Highlights
The economic and societal development of South Korea since the 1960s is without doubt a success story
In just a few decades, South Korea transformed itself from an agricultural society to an industrialized nation exporting high-technology products such as cars, TVs, mobile phones or computers
In just a few decades, South Korea transformed itself from an underdeveloped country to an industrialized nation exporting high-technology products like cars, TVs, mobile phones and computers
Summary
The economic and societal development of South Korea since the 1960s is without doubt a success story. Inequality, bad health, a low life expectancy, illiteracy, ethnic and religious conflicts and discrimination of women are a daily occurrence in many developing countries Observing these large differences in the development level of South Korea and today’s developing and emerging countries, the question is obvious: What (if anything) can the numerous underperforming countries in Latin America, Africa or South Asia such as, say Mexico, Colombia or Argentina, Morocco, Ghana or South Africa and India, Pakistan or Bangladesh learn from the South Korean development model? The article is organized in the following way: Chapter two analyzes the central features of the South Korean development model that are unique to South Korea and East Asia and very difficult to imitate by other countries. It is not impossible that a country can catch-up like South Korea has done (who would have thought in 1960 that South Korea could?), the probability that the South Korean development model could work in today’s developing countries is very low
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