Jack Austin Centre for Asia Pacific Business Studies

Effects of Cultural Differences in Economic Development among the Four Asian Tigers

Free

Abstract: Despite high expectations that the four Asian tigers would quickly join the rank of advanced economies, Singapore and Hong Kong did so at the end of the 1980s, Taiwan did so in 2010, but South Korea had not yet achieved the rank as of 2012. Recognizing the complementarity of multiple factors shaping economic development, this paper discusses cultural effects on economic development. In particular, it seeks to assess the effects of one important aspect of culture – social trust – in impeding Korea’s economic development. To this end, this paper compares 33 social trust indicators measured by five worldwide organizations for the four countries. On almost all indicators, Taiwan and Korea have fallen significantly and consistently behind Singapore and Hong Kong. In particular, Korea recorded the lowest scores on almost all indicators, suggesting the need for Korea to further develop social trust as a key ingredient in promoting its economy toward advanced economy status.

Date:	Friday, March 14, 2014
Time:	2:30pm – 4:00pm Presentation & QA
Location:	Segal Graduate School 500 Granville Street, Vancouver Room 2300 (2nd floor)
Cost:	Complimentary
RSVP:	Registration is now closed.
Inquiries:	Please contact beedie-events@sfu.ca

Professor Yul Kwon is currently an adjunct professor of the Beedie School of Business, and a Centre Fellow for the Jack Austin Centre. He retired from Griffith University in Australia in 2013, where he served as the Korean Foundation (endowed) Chair in Korean Studies and the Director of the Australian Centre for Korean Studies for 18 years. Prior to joining Griffith University in 1995, he was a professor at the University of Regina, Canada (1975-1995), teaching a broad range of courses in the areas of economics and international business. In addition, he taught at other universities as a visiting professor including Seoul National University and Korea University in Korea, and Queen’s University in Canada.Professor Kwon also worked for the Bank of Korea (the central bank) and for the Department of Finance, the government of Canada in Ottawa. He also served as a Commissioner of the Saskatchewan Securities Commission, a Board Member of the Korea Exchange Bank of Canada, and Vice President of Net Five Telecom Corporation in Canada.Professor Kwon has published eleven books and edited three books. Two of his books were translated into Japanese. He has published numerous articles in refereed journals, chapters of books, and Op-ed and special columns of newspapers. He is well fit. He jogs about 2000km and runs a few full marathons a year.