保護의 理論과 輸入自由化의 逆說 : 韓國의 경우

The Theory of Protection and Paradox of Import Liberalization : The Korean Case

Unlike other outward-oriented developing countries, Korea had maintained high protection on its import-competing sector until the late 1970s. Yet it was classified as an outward-oriented country by equally heavy protection on its export sector effectively neutralizing the import bias in resource allocation. In the 1980s, however, the liberal-minded technocrats decided that the economy was mired in the distortions and initiated a process of import liberalization unilaterally to increase production efficiency and macroeconomic stability. The process was further accelerated by a strong pressure coming from the U.S. in the late 1980s and the multilateral negotiation of the Uruguay Round in the early 1990s. This paper briefly reviews Korea's import policy and liberalization. It also discusses some theoretical problems revealed in the liberalization processes : its resource allocation effects ; the political economy of liberalization ; the controversy regarding liberalization of agricultural commodities. In the course of this investigation, some interesting paradoxes are identified and some explanations are provided for these paradoxes. However, the propositions in the paper remain theoretical and no empirical investigations are attempted to measure the change in the level of welfare.