Wages, Rents, and Interest Rates in Southern Korea, 1700 to 1900

Abstract

Since 1997, a quantitative revolution has swept Korean economic history and generated a new paradigm. From 1700 to 1900 the Korean economy expanded and contracted along lines suggested by Adam Smith. Economic expansion was based on productive land and a stable commodity market. The direct result was high real skilled wages. Economic contraction became clear from the mid-nineteenth century when the value of land declined, commodity prices rose, and real skilled wages fell. The contraction was apparent before the appearance of Japanese imperialism and the absorption of Korea into the international commodity market after 1876.

Citation

Seong Ho, J. and Lewis, J.B. (2006), "Wages, Rents, and Interest Rates in Southern Korea, 1700 to 1900", Field, A.J., Clark, G. and Sundstrom, W.A. (Ed.) Research in Economic History (Research in Economic History, Vol. 24), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 217-283. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0363-3268(06)24007-2