IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/polstu/v55y2007i4p754-778.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Nature and Direction of Economic Reform in North Korea

Author

Listed:
  • Sujian Guo
  • Gary A. Stradiotto

Abstract

In this article we critically examine the nature and direction of economic reform in North Korea. While North Korea began to experiment with reforms and a partial open‐door policy in the mid‐1980s, the most substantial attempt at economic restructuring occurred in July 2002. In these latest reforms, the government attempted to change the planned economic system through the introduction of price reforms, market and commodity relations, profit motivation and material incentives. However, scholars disagree on the nature and direction of economic restructuring. In order to analyze the state of economic transformation, we develop a conceptual framework of market socialism with a set of empirical indicators against which we examine the trends, direction and limitations of reforms. Our study strongly suggests that North Korea is moving away from the command economy towards a model of market socialism as practiced in China and Vietnam.

Suggested Citation

  • Sujian Guo & Gary A. Stradiotto, 2007. "The Nature and Direction of Economic Reform in North Korea," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 55(4), pages 754-778, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:polstu:v:55:y:2007:i:4:p:754-778
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9248.2007.00663.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2007.00663.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2007.00663.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McMillan, John & Naughton, Barry, 1992. "How to Reform a Planned Economy: Lessons from China," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 8(1), pages 130-143, Spring.
    2. John E. Roemer, 1994. "A Future for Socialism," Politics & Society, , vol. 22(4), pages 451-478, December.
    3. Marcus Noland, 2004. "Famine and Reform in North Korea," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 3(2), pages 1-40.
    4. de Melo, Martha & Denizer, Cevdet & Gelb, Alan, 1996. "Patterns of Transition from Plan to Market," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 10(3), pages 397-424, September.
    5. Sachs, J.D. & Woo, W.T., 1994. "Structural Factors in the Economic Reforms of China, Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union," Papers 94-01, California Davis - Institute of Governmental Affairs.
    6. Kornai, Janos, 1992. "The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198287766.
    7. Stanley Fischer & Alan Gelb, 1991. "The Process of Socialist Economic Transformation," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 91-105, Fall.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dan-Bi Um & Jung-Sup Um, 2017. "Informed consent utilizing satellite imagery in forestry carbon trading with North Korea," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 531-552, August.
    2. Um, Dan-Bi, 2020. "Configuring land tenure caused by fixed residence according to the societal control system of North Korea: Focus on forestry carbon trading," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nauro F. Campos & Abrizio Coricelli, 2002. "Growth in Transition: What We Know, What We Don't, and What We Should," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 40(3), pages 793-836, September.
    2. Anders Åslund & Peter Boone & Simon Johnson, 1996. "How to Stabilize: Lessons from Post-communist Countries," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 27(1), pages 217-314.
    3. Ichiro Iwasaki & Taku Suzuki, 2016. "Radicalism Versus Gradualism: An Analytical Survey Of The Transition Strategy Debate," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 807-834, September.
    4. Sachs, Jeffrey D., 1996. "Notes on the life cycle of state-led industrialization," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 153-174, June.
    5. Johnson, Simon & Kouvelis, Panos & Sinha, Vikas, 1997. "On Reform Intensity under Uncertainty," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 297-321, December.
    6. Gary Stradiotto & Sujian Guo, 2007. "Market Socialism in North Korea: A Comparative Perspective," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 188-214.
    7. Berkowitz, Daniel & DeJong, David N., 2002. "Accounting for growth in post-Soviet Russia," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 221-239, March.
    8. Tang, Rongsheng & Tang, Yang, 2022. "Market formation in China from 1978," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    9. Wing Thye Woo, 2003. "Recent Claims of China's Economic Exceptionalism: Reflections Inspired by WTO Accession," Working Papers 321, University of California, Davis, Department of Economics.
    10. Cevdet Denizer & Holger C. Wolf, 1998. "Household Savings in Transition Economies," NBER Working Papers 6457, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Thorsten Beck & Luc Laeven, 2006. "Institution building and growth in transition economies," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 157-186, June.
    12. C. Goodhart & C. Xu, 1996. "The Rise of China as an Economic Power," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 155(1), pages 56-80, February.
    13. Lau, Lawrence J. & Qian, Yingyi & Roland, Gerard, 1997. "Pareto-improving economic reforms through dual-track liberalization," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 285-292, August.
    14. Jin, Zhangfeng, 2021. "The Legacies of the Soviet Influence in the 1950s: China's 156 Major Industrial Projects," GLO Discussion Paper Series 932, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    15. Goodhart, C. A. E. & Xu, Chenggang, 1996. "The rise of China as an economic power," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 3753, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. Lawrence J. Lau & Yingyi Qian & Gerard Roland, 2000. "Reform without Losers: An Interpretation of China's Dual-Track Approach to Transition," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(1), pages 120-143, February.
    17. Jeffrey Sachs & Wing Thye Woo, 2003. "China's Economic Growth After WTO Membership," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 1-31.
    18. S. Fisher & R. Sahay & C. A. Vegh, 1997. "Stabilization and Growth in Transition Economies: The Early Experience," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, vol. 5.
    19. World Bank, 2003. "The Russian Labor Market : Moving from Crisis to Recovery," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 15007.
    20. Vahabi, Mehrdad, 1997. "De l’économie de la pénurie à l’économie politique du communisme. Sur l’évolution récente de la pensée économique de Janos Kornai : 1980-1996 [Economics of Shortage and Political Economy of Communi," MPRA Paper 80026, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 1997.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:polstu:v:55:y:2007:i:4:p:754-778. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0032-3217 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.