Government intervention or market liberalization: the Korean financial crisis as a case of market failure

Abstract

This paper questions the conventional view that the Korean financial crisis of 1997 was simply the result of pervasive government intervention in the economy. While Korea has had a long history of state involvement, and while state policies did contribute to inefficient resource allocation and inefficiencies, the strategy of market liberalization introduced in the early 1990s hardly performed any better. In fact, this paper illustrates that, although not the immediate trigger of the Korea’s financial and currency meltdown, the poorly sequenced and implemented financial liberalization contributed greatly to the scale and pace of the crisis.

Keywords

capital accounts economic liberalization Korean financial crisis states and markets in development

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