Spurts of growth are commonplace in modern economic history. But sustaining such growth is another problem. A jolt such as the 1997-98 crisis in Asia can have sudden, devastating effects.

In a determined effort to restore the growth rate in postcrisis Korea, the government attempted some of the most comprehensively designed liberalization and market-oriented reform measures, to encourage flexibility, transparency, and market discipline. Efforts were made to move toward a more decentralized corporate sector, a more market-based financial sector, a more flexible labor market, and a less interventionistic public sector.

Above all, in any country, institutions have to be strengthened or newly developed to maintain productive dynamism and to give the economy resilience to external shocks. Such efforts have met with challenges everywhere, however, not least because of entrenched interests in every sector and rapid change in the global economy.

The authors of this book evaluate key reforms intended to sustain the growth of the Korean economy, making comparisons with the experiences of other countries. They examine domestic issues of common concern everywhere: corporate governance, financial sector reform, productivity, and growth-promoting institutions. They also assess recent changes in the international environment, which have predictably increased the competitive pressures on production and export markets, but have also brought unexpected opportunities through economic complementarities in a globalizing world.