農産物輸入開放과 保護의 政治經濟的 費用에 관한 考察

A Study of the Agricultural Import Liberalization and the Political-Economic Cost of Protection

Recently, the political-economic costs of protection arising from resource-using lobbying activities seeking tariff revenues or making protection have received a great deal of attention in the literature on commercial policy. This paper examines some aspects of agricultural import liberalization in Korea in light of these theoretical developments. It suggests that for a small country like Korea, the issue should be treated as an exogenously determined constraint rather than as a policy variable. It suggests that given this constraint, the appropriate policy response would require evaluation of the political-economic costs of protection as well as traditional economic costs and benefits.