The Association needs supports from all members. There are many members who have not paid their annual membership dues as of June 15, 1998. You may click on the Dues-Paying Members to check if you have paid your 1998 membership dues. If you have not done so yet, please send your payment to the new treasurer, Dr. Jinill Kim, Federal Reserve Board, Mail Stop #61A, Washington, D.C., 20551. Checks should be made payable to the Korea-America Economic Association.

You may download the Annual Membership Application Form in a pdf file if you need one.

Professor Yeon-Koo Che, the current treasurer of the KAEA, will be on leave from the University of Wisconsin, starting this August. We thank Professor Che for his excellent service for the Association, and wish him to have a great fun in Spain. Dr. Jinill Kim at the Federal Reserve Board will take over from June. Please direct all financial inquiries to Dr. Kim from now on.

Professor Hak Youn Kim organized an academic session for the KAEA at the Southern Economic Association annual meeting in Baltimore this year. The current program is as follows. If you have any questions about the meeting, please send your inquiry to Professor Hak Youn Kim: (502) 745-3187; E-mail: youn.kim@wku.edu

Session: Applied Economic Issues

Chairperson: H. Youn Kim, Western Kentucky University

Paper Presenters
1. Chulho Jung, Ohio University,"The Variability in Advertising Expenditure and Sales"
2. S. Paik, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Technological Change and Hedonic Quality Adjustments to Price Indexes of Personal Computers"
3. Sung Y. Kwack, Howard University, "The Financial Crisis in Korea: Causes and Cures"
4. Iltae Kim, Chonnam National University, "A General Theorem on Comparative Static Effects of Changes in One Risk in the Presence of Another"

Discussants

1. S. Paik, Bureau of Labor Statistics
2. H. Youn Kim, Western Kentucky University
3. Chulho Jung, Ohio University

Theme of the Convention:   The main theme of the convention is "Foreign Exchange/Financial Crisis and Korean Economy".

Date and Place:  The dates of the convention have been changed to August 18 - August 19 from August 19-20. The convention will be held at Inchon Memorial Center in Korea University.

Hotel and Transportation:  The KEA will provide for the hotel rooms for two nights (August 17 and 18) at Sejong hotel, and there will be a shuttle bus service between the hotel and Korea university. The KEA is currently negotiating with the hotel to extend the convention room rate to a few days before and after the convention (August 16-21). If successful, any participant can stay at the hotel at your own expenses. You may make your own reservation. The address and the phone number of Sejong Hotel are 61-3 2-ka Chungmu-Rd, Chung-Ku, Seoul, 100 Korea; Phone: 02-776-1811; Fax: 02-771-4179.

Revised Paper?  If you have substantially revised the paper after your initial submission to the KAEA, please send to Bong-Soo Lee a new revised paper as soon as possible.

Questions:  All questions regarding the Seoul Convention should be directed to Professor Bong-Soo Lee at: blee@uh.edu or (713) 743-4781.

Participants:  Total number of the participants in the convention from the KAEA is twenty six, including the executive committee members of the KAEA. There will be a plenary panel session on August 18, and another panel session is scheduled. Other sessions are organized by the KEA and will be announced later when it becomes available from the KEA.

Plenary Session

1. E. Han Kim (U of Michigan)
2. Sung Yeung Kwak (Howard U)
3. John H. Riew(Penn State U)
4. Jong S. You (Algoma U)

Pannel Session

1. Whee Gook Kim (East-West Research Institute), "Democracy and Economic Development in South Korea."
2. Hyeng Keun Koo (POSTECH) and Youn-Suk Kim (Kean U of New Jersey), "Asian Contagious Financial Crisis and Its Impact on Korea"
3. Chong Soo Pyun (U of Memphis) and William T. Smith, "IMF Macroeconomic Measures in the Asian Currency Crisis."
4. Bong Joon Yoon(SUNY-Binghampton),"The Korean Financial Crisis and the Early Warning System"

Other Sessions

1. Seung Chan Ahn (Arizona State U) and Peter Schmidt (Michigan State U),"Modified Generalized Instrumental Variables Estimation of Panel Data Models with Strictly Exogenous Instrumental Variables."
2. Kwang Soo Cheong (U of Hawaii at Manoa),"Mergers and Dynamic Oligopoly."
3. In-Bong Kang (Binghampton U), "A direct Test of the Theory of Rational Stock Market Bubbles."
4. Benjamin J.C. Kim (U of Nebraska-Lincoln), "Identifying the Money and Credit Channel Effects of Monetary Policy Changes on Commercial Bank Portfolios."
5. Jinill Kim (Federal Reserve Board), "Adjustment Costs of Investment in General Equilibrium: Analytic Results."
6. Soyoung Kim (U of Illinois-UC),"Monetary Policy Rules and Business Cycles."
7. Sunghyun H. Kim (Brandeis U),"Capital Income Taxation in an Open Economy."
8. SunWoong Kim (U of Wisconsin-Milwaukee),"Dynamics of Neighborhood Change: Urban Neighborhood as an Evolutionary Game."
9. Noh-Sun Kwark (Texas A&M U), "Long-Run Comparative Advantage and Traditional Dynamics After Free Trade in an Endogenous Growth Model."
10. In-Uck Park (U of Pittsburgh) and Paul A Grout (U of Bristol), "Using Access Pricing of Essential Facilities to Promote Effective Competition."
11. Kang H. Park (Southeast Missouri State U), "Asian Currency Crisis with a Focus on Korea and Taiwan: Fundamentals or Self-Fulfilling?"
12. Kwanho Shin (U of Kansas),"The Role of a Variable Input in the Relationship between Investment and Uncertainty."
13. Sang-Chul Suh (U of Windsor), "Strategy-Proof Solutions in a Permit Sharing Problem."
14. Ky H. Yuhn (Florida Atlantic U), "Endogenous Growth and Agglomeration Economies in Korean Manufacturing: A sign of Declining Competitiveness."

Funding:  We have reported in the last newsletter (April, 1998) that the KAEA and KEA will provide $300 per person in U.S. dollars and w400,000 per person in Korean currency to be paid in Seoul. We promised that we will do our best to increase that amount if the fund raising drive is successful. Professor Bong-Soo Lee and I visited Seoul from May 20 through May 30. We made appointments in advance with 25 individuals. After 11 days of weaving through the heavy traffic and thick air pollution, we have achieved a modest success considering the current Korean economic condition. Dr. Tae Dong Kim and Dr. Jong Keun Yoo helped us a great deal in the process. Dr. Young Sik Chang, the member of the KAEA and the new president of the Korea Electric Power Corporation, pledged the largest amount of contributions. Dr. Tae Dong Kim also gave us 1 million won in lieu of his membership due. The amount of the funds raised so far is not enough to raise the subsidy for travel expenses. We will have to do with the amount we had already announced.