Nobel prize laureates: S. Korea’s inclusive economy leads to sustainable growth

Oct 16, 2024, 10:08 am

		0
This year’s Nobel economics prize laureates Simon Johnson, Daron Acemoglu, and James Robinson./ Sources: Reuters, Yonhap, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of Chicago

Washington correspondent Ha Man-joo

This year’s Nobel economics prize laureates on Monday said that South Korea, which achieved economic growth and political democratization, is a prime example of maintaining its early economic growth strongly with inclusive system that creates broad opportunities to people.

“What we have found through historical research is that if society can transition to some kind of inclusive participation over time, its growth remains much stronger,” said Simon Johnson at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) during an online press conference. He noted that his wife’s family is from South Korea.

“South Korea was very poor and quite authoritarian in the early 1960s. But over time, there was economic growth and an effort to democratize, which was difficult and messy, and there are plenty of struggles. It’s not an easy journey,” he said.

“But I think as a result, the South Korean economy, which is again not without its problems today, but it’s in a much better shape and their achievements are really remarkable compared to what some other countries have been able to pull off.”

Johnson’s fellow Nobel laureate and MIT colleague Daron Acemoglu said that political democratization is important to sustain economic growth.

“The system provides a framework, which is the basis for good policy,” Acemoglu said. “The inclusive economy advocates the guarantee of property rights and equal opportunity, and the key is education, public infrastructure, and the right kind of regulation.”

“We emphasize inclusive politics in which power is equally distributed making sure that power is not monopolized by one group or one person or party,” he said. “Political and economic institutions are synergistic, and it is very difficult to maintain economic inclusive when you are ruled by the iron fist of an autocrat.”

#Nobel prize #South Korea #inclusive