Book Publishing Industry and National Development : The Case of South Korea during 1975-2012

Book publishing industry plays an important role educationally, culturally, and economically. This paper investigates the relationship between book publishing industry and national development in South Korea by analyzing historical data statistically. Major findings are: 1) as Korean national development continued, the number of titles increased while average number of copies decreased, which together suggest the phenomenon of more titles-fewer copies, 2) as GDP and population increased, translation titles, average retail price, and number of book publishing companies, also increased significantly, 3) as GDP and population increased, the number of book stores decreased while the number of libraries increased. The decrease in the number of bookstores seems to be due to the increase in the number of titles, in addition to a potential influence of online bookstores. Other findings and implications are discussed further. This research is meaningful in that it provides empirical test for the relationship between South Korean BPI and national economic development by analyzing historical data.