[Dialogue] Current Discourse on Economic Growth and Its Significance / In Tae-yeon, Cheon ByungYou, Jeung Daeyeung, and Joo Sang-Young
The Quarterly Changbi 181, Autumn 2018
Abstract
Dealing with the current controversy surrounding the government’s policy of income-led growth, “Dialogue” carefully examines the direction that economic policy has taken for the past year, after the inauguration of President Moon Jae-in. The participants discuss how to approach the matter of an appropriate level of a minimum-wage increase and how to solve the predicaments that owner-operators and other economic agents currently face. This discussion also addresses and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of various theories of economic growth. Particularly noteworthy is their argument that we will have a sustainable economy only when we pursue a mutually beneficial, “win-win” economy, rather than just try to profit from North Korean low-wage laborafter inter-Korean economic cooperation resumes. In conclusion, the participants emphasize that governmental leadership plays an essential role in this situation, in which the economy is highly unstable and the prospect of economic recovery appears unclear.