The Global Financial Crisis and the Challenges of the Korean Economy

This paper analyzes why the U.S. financial crisis evolved into a global financial crisis, and why the Great Moderation led to the Great Recession. Then, the U.S. policy responses to the crisis are discussed and are compared with the policy measures prescribed by the IMF on the Korean economy immediately after the 1997 Korean Currency and Banking Crisis. The paper also deals with the sovereign debt crises of the Euro zone to analyze the needs for macro-prudential regulation and supervision. The main focus of this paper, however, is to examine the impacts of the global financial crisis on the Korean economy, to evaluate the macro-policy measures meant to ride out the crisis, and to present the major challenges that Korea will face in the future. Given that internal and external risk factors abound, along with persistent uncertainties in the Korean economy, the policies on securing price, financial, exchange rate, and fiscal stability as well as stable economic growth are recommended.