1. Special Session in Chicago:   The KAEA has completed another year with a moderate success. The year started with a shadow cast by the economic crisis of Korea. At the Chicago meeting last year, on the request from v.p. Bong-Soo Lee, the ASSA approved a last minute special session on the Korean foreign exchange crisis, which was a very rare decision for the session-penurious ASSA. The session was a great success: we had to bring in many extra chairs, and yet could not accommodate everyone. The presenters included Professor Jin Keun Park, the president of Korean Economic Association (KEA), and Professor Hak Yong Rhee, the president-elect of the KEA. They provided insightful information of current economic crisis in Korea, and lively questions, criticisms and suggestions were followed.

2. Eighth International Economics Convention:   The biggest event for the KAEA this year was the Eighth International Economics Convention in Seoul on August 18-19, 1998, jointly organized with the Korean Economic Association. Twenty four members of the KAEA participated as paper presenters, discussants and session chairs. The convention had an opening ceremony, three plenary sessions, and 27 academic sessions. The convention was successful by all accounts and it had a pretty good turnout. The Maeil Economic Daily Newspaper had covered the convention extensively.

3. KAEA Executive Committee for 1999:  Professor Bong-Joon Yoon at SUNY-Binghamton was elected to the president-elect. Also elected were Dr. Yung Y. Yang for the vice president, Dr. Yesook Merrill for the Secretary General and Dr. Young Back Choi for the Treasurer. See the November Newsletter for the details and their curriculum vitae.

4. Fourteenth Annual Meeting in New York:   The fourteenth annual meeting in New York had four academic sessions and a business meeting.

 You may download the agenda of the business meeting in the pdf format

 Attendance in academic sessions was pretty good. In particular, the joint session with the AEA drew almost one hundred attendees.

 The business meeting was held at 6 p.m. on January 4. Dr. Duk-Choong Kim, the president of Ajou University, and Dr. Hak-Yong Rhee, the president of the Korean Economic Association, delivered keynote speeches.

  Professor Youn-Suk Kim, the chair of the committee in charge of investigating the need for a secretary general of a longer term (committee members are Kwan Suk Kim and Bong-Soo Lee), presented the committee's findings. Any change in the By-Laws will be voted through mail before the next election in 1999.

  Dr. Gill-Chin Lim, the dean of the KDI School of International Policy and Management, presented an invitation of the KAEA members to visit the School, promising to provide living quarters and transportation. Dr. Yoon Dokko, the dean of the School of Business Administration, Ajou University, announced job openings. Job openings at Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI) and Korea Institute of Finance (KIF) were also announced.

  After the business meeting, the KAEA dinner reception was held at Korean Palace restaurant. Ambassador Noh Soo Park at the Korean Consulate in New York gave a short welcome speech at the dinner. After that, seventy members had an excellent dinner and had a really good time.

5. Roundtable Discussion:   The KAEA also organized a roundtable discussion on various economic issues in Korea for the Maeil Business Newspaper.

 The roundtable was held on January 4 for three hours from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in a suite. Participants were Professors E. Han Kim (U. of Michigan), Kwan Suk. Kim (U. of Notre Dame), Youn-Suk Kim (Kean U.), and Bong-Joon Yoon (SUNY-Binghamton). Hae-shin Hwang (Texas A&M U.) served as the moderator, and the discussion was recorded by Chul-Whan Sung and Sang Hyup Kim, reporteres from the Maeil Newspaper.

 The discussion was focussed on the effects of the restructuring policies on economic efficiency, international trade, and unemployment. Professors Kwan Suk Kim and Youn-Suk Kim were leaning toward relatively more government interventions to correct socio-economic problems, while Professors E. Han Kim and Bong-Joon Yoon were inclined more to a free market system.

 Reporters imposed on the panelists a difficult question: when do you expect the Korean economy to turn around? Would the recovery be of V shape, or U shape, or L shape? Participants gave their "brave" forecasts. We will see whose forecast is correct. There was a wide range of forcasts, and one of them may prove correct.

6. THANK YOU NOTE:   This is the final newsletter from the 1998 executive committee. We wish to express our gratitude to all members and financial sponsors, who helped us to finish our term with a moderate success.

Yung Y. Yang - Vice President  

  We will promote joint research efforts between KAEA members and Korea Economic Association members and various research organizations in Korea. We will be soon getting in touch with responsible persons in major research organizations in Korea to help coordinate this effort.

  The general theme of The Fifteenth Annual KAEA Meeting in Boston (January 6-9, 2000) will be focused on the current and future impacts on Korean economy of the recent financial crisis and restructuring policies implemented by the Korean government. Issues of particular interest are

1. How to protect developing countries from volatility of capital flows?

2. What is the process or linkage among currency crisis, financial crisis, and economic crisis (severe downturn in the real sector)?

3. Distribution issues in an open and growing economy: Will economic growth lead to more equitable distribution? If not, what to be done?

4. Chaebol policy from an industrial organization or other perspective?

 If you wish to participate in the joint session with the AEA, your paper must be submitted by mid February, 1999.

 Discussants will be selected only from those who submitted their papers. The deadline for the paper submission will be anounced in the next newsletter.

Yesook Merrill - Secretary General  

  A conference on the economic integration of North and South Koreas is scheduled for the fall of 1999. Its tentative title is Two Koreas: Towards One Economy. The conference will cover the following broad areas:

- progress report toward economic integration

- KEDO as an example of economic cooperation

- opportunities for new businesses in the North

- possible economies of scale as benefits of economic cooperation

- global and regional perspectives of economic integration

- perspectives from the North.

A preliminary program will be made available in March through the KAEA newsletter.

 We need help from all members. If you have good suggestions, or if you wish to participate in the conference as a discussant, a chair of the session, or a presenter, please contact Dr. Yesook Merrill, Office of Chief Economist,U.S. General Accounting Office, 441 G. Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20548, (202) 512-5958, Fax (202) 512-5366; E-mail: merrilly@gao.gov.

Young Back Choi - Treasurer:  

 The membership due will be $20 for regular members, and will be waived for all graduate students. Students can join the KAEA by just sending their personal information via e-mail to: choiyb@stjohns.edu.

 The KAEA plans to publish a new directory of members in 1999. Please send updated information to Dr. Young Back Choi, Department of Economics and Finance, St. John's University, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Jamaica, NY 11439. Or send the information via e-mail to: choiyb@stjohns.edu.

1. Change of Jobs:  

Professor Jongsung Kim at Loyola College in Maryland has moved to a new position: Department of Economics, Bryant College, Smithfield, RI, 02917; (401) 232-6129, Fax(401) 232-6319; E-mail: jkim@bryant.edu.

Professor Junsoo Lee at Vanderbilt University has moved to a new position as an associate professor: the Department of Economics, University of Central Florida, P. O. Box 161400, Orlando, FL 32816-1400; (407) 823-2070; E-mail: Junsoo.Lee@bus.ucf.edu

2. Honors:   Suk-Hi Kim of the University of Detroit Mercy has been appointed as a board member of the IPS Center for National Competitiveness headed by Dr. Dong-Sung Cho, a professor of international management at Seoul National University. CONGRATULATIONS!

3. Corrections in Directory:  Directory information of the following members are corrected: Yoosoon Chang (Spelling of the first name), Frank C. Lee (title, address, phone number), Kee S. Kim (e-mail address), and Yung Y. Yang (home address).

4. New Members in Directory:   Seung-Mo Hong joined the association as a junior member.