Redistribution to Market: Transformation of the traditional economic system in Korea, 1700-1945

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

I revisit the economic transition in Korea from the eighteenth century to the early twentiethcentury to explain the transition in terms of transition of economic system from a redistribution economy to a market economy. For the purpose, I use the concept of economic integration originally introduced by Karl Polanyi.
The establishment of a market economy needs a great transformation in the long run. The transformation in Korea started in the late seventeenth century and saw crises in the redistribution economy and shocks on the Ports-Opening in the nineteenth century and colonization in the early twentieth century. Although the transition to a market economy was tried by the Reform of 1894, institutions to support the transition were so weak that the empire negated the reform and restored the old system. The empire, however, failed to resuscitate the moribund old system because it was built on a social and economic condition which was not mature enough for the transition.
Eventually, Japan dismantled the old system, which had hindered a market economy from developing. Also as reforms, initiated by the Reform of 1894 but stopped later, were carried out in the period of the protectorate, institutions became ready for a market economy. GDP in colonial Korea grew rapidly. This would have been impossible without transition to an open economy, elimination of the distribution economy, and institutional reforms for a market economy.
The structure of this paper is as follows: in the chapter II, I provide evidences, mainly in the eighteenth century, that the economic structure of late Chosun was a redistribution economy; in the chapter III, I explain the process how the redistribution economy started to show cracks on the ports-opening, then, finally, got discarded by the Reform of 1894; in the chapter IV, I consider problems that the Daehan empire encountered on the way to a market economy after brushing aside the redistribution economy, and I illustrate, briefly, the progress of the market economy after the transformation.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

18세기부터 20세기 초까지 한국에서 일어난 경제적 전환을 재분배경제에서 시장경제로의 경제체제의 전환이라는 관점에서 포착하기 위해 칼 폴라니의 경제통합이라는 개념을 이용하였다. 17세기 후반부터 시작되는 시장경제로의 전환 과정은 19세기의 재분배경제의 위기와 개항에 의한 충격을 거쳐 20세기 전반의 식민지기에 이른다. 갑오개혁에 의해 시장경제로의 전환이 시도되었지만 전환을 뒷받침할 수 있는 제도가 미비하여 실패하였다. 이러한 전환을 제한하고 있던 ‘구체제’가 결국 일본에 의한 지배하에 해체되고, 이와 함께 갑오개혁에서 시도되었으나 중단되었던 제도적 정비가 일본 제국주의 권력에 의해 이루어짐으로써 시장경제로의 전환을 위한 제도적 정비가 식민지기에 일단락되었다. 식민지 조선의 GDP는 빠르게 증가하였는데, 이러한 변화는 개방경제로의 이행과 재분배체제의 폐지, 그리고 시장경제로의 전환을 위한 제도적 혁신이 있었기에 가능하였던 것이다.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

-Contents-
I. Introduction
II. Economic Integration and Redistribution System in late Chosun
III. Crisis in the redistribution system and impact of the Ports-Opening
IV. The Daehan Empire and the market economy
V. Conclusion