Neoliberalism, the Developmental State and Civil Society in Korea

The Entrepreneurial Developmental State: What is the Perceived Impact of South Korea’s Creative Economy Action Plan on Entrepreneurial Activity?

“…Macroeconomic policies were supplemented with microeconomic policies to support particular sectors. In some areas, by the 1980s sector-specific state support had been replaced by functional support in the form of a commitment to state assistance to the economy as a whole (Hundt, 2015).…”

“…There is now a growing body of literature suggesting that the developmental state has not retreated but rather adapted to a changing domestic and international environment (e.g., Wan, 2008;Park, 2011;Kim, 2012;Suh and Kwon, 2014;Thurbon, 2016). Given that the developmental state was and remains an underlying institutional system involving governments, bureaucracies and the private sector rather than a collection of policies only, it would have been difficult for the EAFC to terminate it (Hundt, 2015). Most notably, there is a 'developmental mindset' that has survived the EAFC, cutting across both liberal and conservative governments (Thurbon, 2016).…”

“…After a few years, however, the financing model evolved. Capital markets were allowed to play a greater financing role (Hundt, 2015). The government even fostered the development of bond markets (Rethel and Sinclair, 2014).…”

“…(3) Technological upgrading has become central to the government's strategy to boost growth in developmental Korea. The state has used a combination of policies and instruments to harness governmental resources to support high-tech sectors such as biotechnology and ICT (Kim, 2012;Hundt, 2015). Certainly, the Korean state has a history of supporting economic upgrading.…”

“…The general partner of a Korean facilitator explains: "overseas Koreans and Korean-Americans are being attracted to join the entrepreneurship ecosystem". 12 The Korean developmental state's financing model has been moving away from bank-based credit towards a greater role for financial markets (Hundt, 2015). At the same time, the government's 'developmental mindset' still affords an important role to state-directed lending (Thurbon, 2016).…”