NewsLetter from KAEA Research Institute
(July, 2003)


The KAEA Advisory Board selected Hae-shin Hwang as the first Director of the KAEA Research Institue.

Professor Hwang sent the following email on March 30, 2003 to all members:

"To start the Institute successfully, I need all the help I can muster from every member. We will use the member information to secure funding for an individual or a group of individuals. A few institutes in Korea already expressed some interests in funding the research of our members. I expect that these projects will be very much applied research. But, I believe that theorists will play an important roles as a member of a group. The first task is to identify the fields of specialization, experiences and past achievements of every member. Please send me your curriculum vita in the following format. Please add any information that can help us to sell our service to the funding agencies."

47 members submitted their c.v.'s in various forms and formats. It took more than 28 hours to put them in a uniform format. The collection of the c.v.'s (see the c.v.'s by clicking C.V.) and the directory of the KAEA members were distributed to the people whom we contacted for financial support for joint research efforts.

In July, we visited a few research institutes in Korea, and received very positive responses to our proposal. In particular, the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI), Korea institute of Finance (KIF), Institute for Monetary & Economic Research at the Bank of Korea, and Korea Institute of Public Finance (KIPF) are willing to provide financial support for the KAEA members.

If you are interested in a research supported by one of these institues, you need to submit the research proposal to the Director of KAEA Research Institute by the end of September, 2003.

The main objective of joint research between the KAEA members and their counter part in Korea is to produce a high quality paper that can be published at least in one of the top 50 journals. This will give a strong incentive for them to participate eagerly in our joint research efforts.

Brief descriptions of the results of our visits to these institutes are below.

KERI

Professors Bong-Soo Lee and Sunwoong Kim and Hae-shin Hwang visited the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) on July 8, and met with Dr. Sung-Hee Jwa, the president of the KERI, and Dr. Inhak Hwang, the director of the research coordination office. They were very enthusiastic about the opportunity of joint research between KERI staff members and the members of the KAEA, and promised financial support for the joint research. They did not specify the exact amount of financial support, but promised to try to do their best in providing financial support and office space if necessary. KERI will announce to their staff members the opportunity of collaboration with the KAEA members, and identify the members who are interested in the joint works. Their planning sessions for the next year's research start sometime in October, and they will consider in their planning the joint research projects with KAEA members. They will also consider the research proposals from the KAEA members as a part of their overall planning. If you wish to do your own research or joint research with the KERI staff members, the proposal must be submitted to the Director of the KAEA Research Institute by the end of September.

KIF

Professors Bong-Soo Lee and Sunwoong Kim and Hae-shin Hwang visited the Korea Institute of Finance (KIF) on July 8, and met with Dr. HaeWang Chung, the president of the KIF, Dr. HeungSik Choe, the vice president of the KIF, and Dr. Baekin Cha, the director of research. They were very enthusiastic about the opportunity of joint research between KIF staff members and the members of the KAEA, and promised financial support for the joint research. They did not specify the exact amount of financial support, but promised to try to do their best in providing financial support. KIF will survey their staff members to identify the members who are interested in the joint works with the members of the KAEA. Their planning sessions for the next year's research start sometime in October, and they will consider in their planning the joint research projects with KAEA members. They will also consider the research proposals from the KAEA members as a part of their overall planning. If you wish to do your own research or joint research with the KIF staff members, the proposal must be submitted to the Director of the KAEA Research Institute by the end of September.

BOK

Professor Hong Y. Park, the president-elect of the KAEA, contacted Dr. Jeong-Ho Hahm, the director general of the Institute for Monetary & Economic Research at the Bank of Korea. Professors Bong-Soo Lee and Sunwoong Kim also met with the Dr. Seung Park, the Governor of the BOK on July 9. Dr. Hahm agreed to provide financial support in the amount of about $5,000 per project for the KAEA members on an individual basis. They will support 6 projects (3 in the finance area and 3 in economic policy area). The projects they are interested in are

Finance Area

  1. Bank-based and market-based financial systems: different roles, challenges and perspectives
  2. Financial structure and corporate governance
  3. Financial structure and corporate finance
  4. Financial structure and bank efficiency
  5. Financial structure and economic development
  6. Financial structure and stability of financial system
  7. Improvement of Korean financial system

Economic Policy Area

  1. Economic policies for continuous stable growth
    1. Economic policies in an economy with low growth rate, low inflation rate and low interest rate
    2. Macroeconomic policy issues for stable economic growth
    3. Policies to maintain stable growth in the time of structural changes
    4. New strategies for economic growth with stability of economy
  2. Macroeconomic policies in globalized economy
    1. Medium to long term economic growth strategies in an open economy
    2. Direction of macroeconomic policies under uncertainty
    3. Economic cooperative system and economic growth in North-East Asia
    4. Policy Issues in implementation of advanced market economic system
  3. Growth and Distribution
    1. Policies to reconcile the objectives of growth and distribution
    2. Economic implication of aging population
  4. Competitiveness and growth potential
    1. Medium to long term economic policies for expansion of economic growth potentials
    2. Measures to promote international competitiveness (development of human capital, investment in education, etc)
    3. Investigation of new factors that promote economic growth in market economy (market structure, Jaebul policy, etc)
    4. Policies to promote innovation-based economy
  5. Macroeconomic effects of changes in socio-economic structure
    1. Establishment of economic reform and market economy
    2. Analysis of the economic effects of deregulations
    3. Economic system and economic growth
  6. Others
    1. Discrepancies between real and financial sectors
    2. Economic growth and advancement of financial system
    3. Economic effects of financial instability
    4. Economic effects of transformation economy toward service-oriented economy

The contract will start from January 1, 2004. If you wish to participate, please submit your proposal to the Director of the KAEA Research Institute by the end of September. Selected members are expected to present the paper at the 2004 KEA-KAEA meeting in one of the two sessions that the Bank of Korea plans to sponsor.

KIPF

Professor Sunwoong Kim visited the Korea Institute of Public Finance (KIPF) on July 9th, and met with President Dae Hee Song, Vice President Seung-Hun Chun, and Dr. Junghoon Kim, Director of Research. President Song was quite supportive to the idea of joint research and/or seminar. The list of their 2003 projects can be found at http://210.218.195.13/kipf_home/researcher/researcher_05_01.asp. They are also interested in finding some one to work on the current project in the area of transparency and reporting of financial transactions in the U.S. If you are interested in a joint project with the KIPF staff, please submit your proposal to the Director of the KAEA Research Institute by the end of September.