KDI

In this paper, we empirically examine how export pioneers emerge and how they are related to product creators/innovators, utilizing a rich plant-product level dataset from the Korean manufacturing sector for the period of 1990-1998. Our analysis covers the process from the appearance of product creators as well as product imitators to the emergence of export pioneers. We find, first, that product imitators are larger, more productive and older than product creators. Second, most export pioneers are nevertheless found to be product creators. This result is largely due to the fact that almost all export pioneers export the products in the same year as product creation. Third, there are similarities as well as differences between product creators and export pioneers. Plants that are more productive or larger are more likely to become product creators as well as export pioneers. However, previous exporting experience positively affects the probability of export pioneering only, while plants’ engagement in R&D positively affects the probability of product creation only. We discuss possible explanations for our main empirical results as well as their policy implications.

The purpose of this paper is to measure the impact of the recent Korea-Japan trade dispute on the Korean economy using supply-driven input-output analysis. In July 2019, Japan announced the decision to tighten the export control of three materials which are indispensable in the manufacturing of semiconductors and electronic display panels. Japan’s decision directly affects production in Korea’s semiconductor and display sectors and is hence not a demand shock. For this reason, a standard demand-driven input-output analysis is not valid despite the fact that it can still be applied. The impact of Japan’s decision on Korea’s aggregate and individual sectors’ gross output, GDP and employment were computed using both methods.

The main objective of this study is to determine whether there have been TFP increases in the Korean manufacturing sector due to trade liberalization since the 1990s. Based on the methodology proposed by Pavcnik (2002), which focuses on the channel through which trade liberalization measures enhance overall industrial productivity by triggering the exit of low-productivity firms, this study tests the following two hypotheses: first, the TFP increase in the Korean tradable industry is not higher than that in the non-tradable industry, and second, plants with lower TFP levels did not exit from the tradable industry. Through the rejection of these two hypotheses, it is possible to infer indirectly the effect of trade liberalization on firm productivity rates in Korea since the 1990s. First, this analysis reveals that since the 1990s, the TFP of the tradable sector compared to the non-tradable sector presented a statistically meaningful increase only in the 2000s, when China joined the WTO and trade increased sharply between Korea and China. Secondly, TFP growth in the tradable sector was positively affected by exits, as it was plants with lower TFP levels that ceased to exist.