Economic Catch-up and Technological Leapfrogging

Keun Lee, winner of the 2014 Schumpeter Prize, and Professor, Seoul National University, Korea

• Contents: 1. Introduction PART I CATCH-UP AND LEAPFROGGING AT THE ECONOMY LEVEL 2. Historical Origins and Initial Conditions for Economic Catch-up 3. Korean Model of Catch-up Development: A ‘Capability-based View’ 4. Intellectual Property Rights and Technological Catch-up in Korea 5. From Miracle to Crisis and the Mirage of the Post-Crisis Reform 6. Maintaining Macro Stability for a Crisis-resilient Growth in Korea 7. Is Leapfrogging-Style Reform Possible in North Korea PART II CATCH-UP AND LEAPFROGGING AT THE SECTOR LEVEL 8. Catch-up and Leapfrogging in the 6 Sectors in the 1980s and 1990s 9. Digital Technology as a Window of Opportunity for Leapfrogging: The Display Industry 10. Technological Catch-up in Capital Goods Sector PART III CATCH-UP AND INTERNATIONALIZATION BY BIG BUSINESSES AND THE SMES 11. Samsung, Created in Korea and Replicated Overseas 12. Moving Factories Overseas and Impacts on Domestic jobs: Case of Samsung 13. Catch-up and Path-creating by SMEs: From OEM to OBM 14. Sequential Internationalization of the Korean SMEs in China Index

'The triumphant rise of South Korea has been a subject of inconclusive research over the last three decades. In this original book Prof. Keun Lee provides the most persuasive account to date by stressing the importance of leapfrogging and catch-up in rapid economic growth. This path-breaking book is a rich source of lessons for emerging and recovering economies.'--Calestous Juma , Harvard Kennedy School, US and Author of Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies'This book provides new perspectives on how Korea managed to close the gap with the industrialised countries. The so-called catch up process is explored at every level - the economy; the sector and sub-sector and the individual firm (both large and small). Drawing from the lessons of Korea, and utilising extensive empirical research, Keun Lee provides insights as to how other developing countries might close the gap. This book will appeal to all those who seek to understand the development of Korea and the implications of the Korean experience for our understanding of the processes of development and associated technological advance.'--David Kaplan, University of Cape Town, South Africa'This book by Professor Keun Lee examines how South Korea has made two successful transitions that have helped transform a poor, war-torn economy into one that produces and exports high-tech manufacturing goods. The first one took place in the middle of the 1980s and led to the transformation of the economy specializing in the production of low-skilled labor-intensive products into one that produces and exports higher-end manufacturing goods. The second turning point, which took place during the 1997-98 financial crisis, led to radical opening of the economy and various structural reforms. He argues that these experiences of Korea shed light on two critical, longer-term issues that confront many of the catching-up economies - that of building up technical capabilities and that of maintaining macro-financial stability.'--Chung Lee, University of Hawaii at Manoa