Academic sessions at the 2008 New Orleans ASSA meeting

The KAEA held three academic sessions at the 2008 ASSA meeting in New Orleans (Jan 4-6). The topic of the joint session with AEA was "Asian Financial Crisis: Ten Years Later." Participants discussed various economic issues in the Asian region such as potential crisis and exchange rates in China, macroeconomic and financial integration among the Asian Crisis countries, and inflation targeting policy in Korea. The session was quite successful with more than 35 people attending. The other two KAEA sessions were on the topics of macroeconomics---Consumption, Investment and Real Exchange Rates---and corporate finance---Corporate Finance and Banking Issues of Korea. From this year, the AEA office allocates one KAEA session to the new time slot starting at 12:30 pm. The macro session was assigned for this slot and the attendance was quite high with more than 35 people attended including a number of non-Koreans who are not related to the KAEA. About 20 people attended the corporate finance and banking session.

Average attendance at this year's conference was lower than last year's. Please keep in mind that we need to increase the number of attendants which is the criteria used by the ASSA board to evaluate the quality of the academic session and in deciding whether to remove some sessions from the affiliated societies at the annual meeting. We encourage our members to participate in the academic sessions at the meeting in order to maintain the three sessions that we currently have been allotted.

2008 annual business meeting

The 2008 Annual Business Meeting was held on January 5, 2008 at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in New Orleans. President Yong H. Kim reported the activities of the KAEA in 2007, including the joint conferences with the KEI, PIIE, GRI, BOK, KDI and KIF, and the KAEA sponsored sessions at the WEAI and SEA annual meetings. President Kim listed the following three as the major achievements during his presidency: (1) addition of 22 lifetime members, (2) start of the By-laws revision, and (3) increase in the amount of support for the Maekyung-KAEA Economist Award. Executive Secretary Sunghyun Kim reported the KAEA activities related to the ASSA while Treasurer Jaejoon Woo made the KAEA financial report for the 2007 year term, including the scholarship program of travel support for the Ph.D. students. In addition, Kwang-Soo Chung (junior guardian of the KAEA investment fund) made a short report on the status of the investment fund.

The Young Scholar Award with a $1,500 cash prize was awarded to two recipients, Dr. Jay H. Hong at University of Rochester and Dr. Yoon-Jin Lee at Indiana University. This annual award is to recognize young scholars' academic accomplishments and to foster scholarship in economics. Both recipients have published in top academic journals such as the American Economic Review and Review of Economic Studies.

This is the third year that we continue the Maekyung-KAEA Economist Award, sponsored by the Maekyung Business Newspaper, which is given to a KAEA member who has made a significant contribution to the academic research in Economics. This year, Professor Hyun Song Shin at Princeton University received this award with a $5,000 cash prize. Representing Maekyung, Chief Editor Yong Sung Chang presented the award. Professors Yeon-Koo Che (Columbia), Tai-Yeong Chung (Chair, Western Ontario), and Hyungsik Moon (USC) served as this year's award committee members for both awards.

There were four service awards for outgoing EC members for their devoted service in 2007: The recipients of the service awards were President Yong H. Kim, Vice President Sunwoong Kim, Treasurer Jaejoon Woo, and Executive Secretary Sunghyun Kim who served for KAEA for the past three years.

Before the business meeting, Professor Young Sun Lee of Yonsei University, the President of the KEA, delivered a speech. President Lee presented his view on the economic tasks of the new government in Korea.

This year's annual banquet dinner was held at J.W. Marriott Hotel. Approximately 60 members and their guests attended the annual banquet (which is less than expected and less than last year's).

Maekyung-KAEA Forum

The second Maekyung-KAEA forum was held on January 3rd at the J.W. Marriott Hotel. This forum is sponsored by the Maeil Business Newspaper and is an open forum with focus on contemporary economic issues in the world economy. This year's topic was titled "Insights into the Current Global Financial Turmoil" and moderated by President Yong H. Kim. We had four presenters this year and their presentation topics are

About 15 people attended this forum. Newspaper article on this forum can be found at Maekyung newspaper.

Panel Discussion on Korean Economy

Discussions on the current economic issues in Korea were continued on the following day in the Panel Discussion on Korean Economy where Dr. Jung Taik Hyun (President of the KDI) which was delivered by Dr. Dong Chul Cho of the KDI, Dr. Sung-Hee Jwa (President of Gyeonggi Research Institute), Dr. Yang Woo Kim (Deputy General Director of the IMER, Bank of Korea), and Dr. Dosoung Choi (President of Korea Securities Research Institute) presented their views. About 20 people attended this forum. Their presentation slides are

A few pictures taken at the SEA/KAEA sessions and at the KEI reception can be seen by clicking on SlideShow.

Professor Semoon Chang organized two academic sessions for the KAEA at the Southern Economic Association meeting in Washington DC. You can see the final program in pdf format by clicking on SEA/KAEA PROGRAM.

All KAEA Members Attending SEA Conference:
KEI in Washington DC invited us to a briefing and reception at 4 p.m. on November 20 (Thursday). If any KAEA member is interested in attending the reception, please contact Professor Semoon Chang (schang@usouthal.edu) as soon as possible.

Professor Semoon Chang organized two academic sessions for the KAEA at the Southern Economic Association meeting in Washington DC. Mr. Lister of KEI is planning a special gathering at KEI during the meeting. Please contact Professor Chang at schang@usouthal.edu for more details.

You can see the program in pdf format by clicking on SEA/KAEA PROGRAM.

The 2008 Southern Economic Association meetings will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C. on November 20 (Thursday) to 22 (Saturday). KAEA plans to organize two sessions as we have done in the past. KAEA members who would like to present a paper or participate in the program as a discussant or session chair are requested to submit the abstract of a paper or the intention to participate in the program no later than March 1.

Although all papers will be considered, papers dealing with Korean and Asian issues will be given a priority. As a special feature, we plan to invite a noted economist from the Economic Analysis Unit of the Indian Statistical Institute. We also expect participation from KAEA members in Korea. Those who present papers at KAEA sessions are exempt from paying submission fee. However, participants in any KAEA-sponsored events must have paid membership dues for the current year and the last year, or a lifetime membership.

Please email your paper or paper abstract to Professor Semoon Chang at schang@usouthal.edu.

The 83rd Annual Conference of the Western Economic Association International (WEAI) was held June 29 - July 3, 2008 at the Sheraton Waikiki, HI, USA. The Korea-America Economic Association (KAEA) organized 3 academic sessions jointly with Korean Economic Association (KEA) at the WEAI conference: (1) Trade, FDI, and Financial Integration, (2) Real Exchange Rates and Consumption and (3) Industrial Policy and Structure.

For special event, the KAEA organized sessions for Korean junior economists at the WEAI conference and it was a huge success. Junior participants expressed great appreciation for our effort to help them and asked continuation of this event. KAEA selected 14 participants and offered 4 sessions for the Korean graduate students. The graduate students sessions were: (4) Econometric Theory I, (5) East Asian Financial Market, (6) Econometric Theory II, and (7) Topics in IO and Regional Growth. We are very pleased to support future generations of Korean economists by providing graduate students opportunities to present their papers in one of the well-recognized international conferences and wish to continue this event.

KAEA hosted dinner on June 29 and 11 members of KAEA and KEA enjoyed cool breeze and great time in Hawaii.

Professor Young-Kyu Moh, Tresurer of the KAEA, who has organized the KAEA sessions at the WEAI meeting in Hawaii reports:

The 83rd Annual Conference of the Western Economic Association International (WEAI) will be held June 29 - July 3, 2008 at the Sheraton Waikiki, HI, USA. The Korea-America Economic Association (KAEA) organizes 3 academic sessions jointly with Korean Economic Association (KEA) at the WEAI conference.

For special event, the Korea-America Economic Association (KAEA) is organizing sessions for Korean junior economists at the WEAI conference. We wish to support future generations of Korean economists by providing graduate students opportunities to present their papers in one of the well-recognized international conferences. Invitation letters were sent out in January to the Korean universities and we selected 14 participants and offering 4 sessions for the Korean graduate students.

The graduate students sessions are:

We are very pleased to support future generations of Korean economists and wish to continue.

You can see the program in pdf format by clicking on WEAI/KAEA PROGRAM.

The 83rd Annual Conference of the Western Economic Association International (WEAI) will be held June 29 - July 3, 2008 at the Sheraton Waikiki, HI, USA. The Korea-America Economic Association (KAEA) plans to organize several sessions jointly with Korean Economic Association (KEA) at the WEAI conference.

There will be no submission fees. However, all session participants are required to register for the conference and are responsible for their own expenses including travel. The WEAI-KAEA-KEA session participants may register at the WEAI member rate even if they are nonmembers.

Membership Requirements: Unless invited by the KAEA, all participants in any KAEA sponsored events must have paid membership dues for the current year and the last year, or a lifetime membership.

If interested, submit completed paper or extended abstract by e-mail to:

Submission deadline: March 15, 2008

The Western Economic Association International (WEAI) invites KAEA members to participate 8th Biennial Pacific Rim Conference to be held March 24-27, 2009 in Kyoto, Japan. There will be no submission fees. However, all session participants are required to register for the conference and are responsible for their own expenses including travel. The KAEA session participants may register at the WEAI member rate even if they are nonmembers. Further information on Pacific Rim conference can be found at the WEAI web site http://www.weai.org.

If interested, submit completed paper or extended abstract with a cover sheet containing the author's name and contact information (address, professional affiliation, phone number, and e-mail address) by e-mail to

Submission deadline: October 10, 2008.

To submit a paper for the workshop, one has to be (or become) a lifetime KAEA member, or one has paid his/her annual membership dues for 2007 and 2008 by the time of submission.

The KIF/KAEA/KAFA annual conference was held on May 26th, 2008 at the Korea Federation of Banks building in Seoul. This year's symposium focused on New Trends in the Banking Industry and Capital Markets and Their Impacts. Two KAEA members, two KAFA members and one KIF member made presentations in the symposium.

The first topic on banking industry was presented by two KAEA members, Professor K. Park on the Korean banking efficiency and competition, and Professor Y. Park on small business loans in the US, and one KAFA member, Professor H. Yi on merger of non-depository financial firms by banks in the U.S. The first paper by Professor K. Park examined the effects of mergers, acquisitions and consolidation on efficiency an competition in the Korean banking sector and concluded that an increase in market concentration has not improved bank efficiency and has not changed the overall level of bank competition although it has a positive effect on the level of the average interest margin. The second paper by Professor H. Yi focused on the reasons for banks' decision to acquire non-depository financial firms, and his findings indicated that acquiring bank managers' claims over the benefits of non-bank acquisitions is a manifestation of an agency problem. The third paper by Professor Y. Park studied how bank competition affects the amount of credit supplied to small businesses and reported that not only are the banks in concentrated markets more likely to turn down a small business loan application, but also the average size of small business loans is smaller than in a competitive market.

The second session on capital markets consisted of two papers, one paper presented by a KAFA member, Professor B. Lee, and another paper presented by a research fellow at the KIF, Dr. J. Song. Professor B. Lee investigated the dynamic relations among national economic growth, economic disparity and financial disparity in China and found that both provincial financial disparity and, to a lesser degree, economic disparity have a negative effect on national economic growth. Dr. J. Song studied the effects of frequent turbulences in the US stock market and short-term debt markets on Korean financial markets and found that, even though a long run relationships between U.S. and Korean financial markets are similar qualitatively, the magnitude of the effect of U.S. stock prices on Korean stock prices have been increased considerably after the subprime mortgage crisis.

Following two papers are selected for presentation at the KIF/KAEA conference:

You can see the program in pdf format by clicking on KIF/KAEA PROGRAM.

The KAEA will hold a joint seminar with the KIF and the KAFA on May 26 (Mon), 2008. The main theme of the seminar is "Development of new financial products and their impact on the banking industry and capital markets." Papers attractive to Korean researchers and practitioners in banking and finance are welcome. Each selected paper will receive travel support of 2,000,000 Korean won. KIF will also provide lodging for two nights.

Please submit your completed papers with an abstract of 200-400 words, including JEL code, by e-mail to Vice President Sunghyun Kim (sunghyun.kim@tufts.edu). Only completed papers will be considered. Submitted papers will be reviewed by the referees selected by both the KIF and the KAEA.

Submission deadline: April 10, 2008.

To submit a paper, one has to be (or become) a lifetime KAEA member or has paid his/her annual membership dues for 2007 and 2008 by the time of submission.

The 5th BOK/KAEA conference was held on July 10, 2008, at the BOK Main Conference Room, Bank of Korea, Seoul, Korea. Dr. Kyung-Soo Kim, BOK Deputy Governor and Director General of the Institute for Monetary and Economic Research (IMER) of BOK, welcomed the KAEA members and paper presenters and hoped for a continued cooperation with the KAEA in joint research and conferences in the future. Prof. Joon Park, President of KAEA, also gave opening remarks for the Conference.

Three papers were presented by two KAEA members, Prof. Bang Nam Jeon and Prof. Ky-hyang Yuhn, and one BOK member, Dr. Hyung-kwon Jeong. Prof. Jeon's paper examined the empirical and policy implications of a recently increasing foreign bank penetration on the transmission of monetary policy in emerging economies of Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe using bank-level data. Prof. Yuhn's paper investigated the puzzling relationship between stock returns and expected inflation, the so-called return-inflation paradox, using quarterly data for 16 countries and reported that the positive or negative relationship between the two variables depends on inflation volatility. Dr. Jeong examined an optimal financing model for small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) in Korea and provided various policy options for the improvement of the preferential loan system designed to support the SMEs in Korea.

After the conference, Director General Kyung-Soo Kim of the IMER of BOK hosted dinner for the participants.

See the entire BOK/KAEA PROGRAM.

Following two papers are selected for presentation at the BOK/KAEA conference:

To see the program in pdf format, click on BOK/KAEA PROGRAM.

The Institute of Monetary and Economic Research at the Bank of Korea and the KAEA will hold a joint conference on July 10 (Thu), 2008. Both empirical and theoretical papers on money and banking, either macroeconomic or microeconomic approaches, are welcome. Please note that the BOK will not accept papers that are already published elsewhere and the selected papers will be published as BOK working papers. Two papers will be selected for the conference and the selected paper presenters will receive financial support of around $6,000 each. Each paper presenter will be requested to contribute one-fifth of the amount of financial support ($1,200 in case of $6,000 support) to the KAEA upon receiving financial support from the BOK. Submitted papers will be reviewed by the referees selected by both the BOK and the KAEA.

Submission: Submit your completed paper with an abstract of 200-400 words, including the JEL code, by e-mail to Vice President Sunghyun Kim (sunghyun.kim@tufts.edu). Only completed papers will be considered.

Submission deadline: April 20, 2008.

To submit a paper, one has to be (or become) a lifetime KAEA member or has paid his/her annual membership dues for 2007 and 2008 by the time of submission.

The 13th International Conference jointly organized by the KEA and KAEA was successfully held on August 12-13 at the Dasan Hall of Economics, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU). We, the Executive Committee of the KAEA, would like to express sincere gratitude to the organizers of this wonderful conference, especially KEA President Jong Won Lee and the program committee chair, Sung Tai Kim. The main theme of the conference was "Leap-off Strategy for Global Korea." Total 24 members from the KAEA participated in the conference (originally, 25 papers were selected but one person could not make the trip). Over the two days, the conference featured 24 academic sessions on various topics including micro, macro, international, econometrics and finance. Some sessions featured graduate students to give them opportunities to present papers in international conferences.

Conference was very successful in three aspects: (1) Quality of papers and participants at this year's conference (from both KEA and KAEA) was much better than previous years, (2) It was a truly international conference with participants from US, UK, Japan, Australia, etc. In particular, among 24 KAEA participants, 7 of them are from outside of US, (3) KAEA provided two (bonus) sessions that attracted many KEA and KAEA members (details below).

A welcome reception was held on the evening of August 11th hosted by the President of the KEA. More than forty people attended the reception. The opening ceremony started with speeches by President of the KEA, Jong Won Lee, and the President-elect of the KAEA, Yoonbai Kim (current President Joon Park could not participate due to personal matters), and Vice President (also President-elect) of Japanese Economic Association, Masahisa Fujita. There were three plenary sessions including two sessions on "climate change, resources and energy issues for global Korea," organized by Korea Energy Economic Institute and Korea LPG Association. The third session was on "regional economic cooperation in Northeast Asia for global Korea," organized by Korea Institute for International Economic Policy. A special session was held on the first day: Prime Minister Seung-Soo Han gave a special speech on "Climate change regime and green growth for global Korea." President of SKKU hosted lunch on the first day and two dinners were hosted by main donors of the conference (Korea LPG Association and Korea Energy Economics Institute).

On the second day, KAEA hosted lunch for all participants and offered two brown bag seminars. Topic of the first seminar was "Are there shortcuts to publication in international journals?" and four distinguished KAEA members lead the discussion: Yongsung Chang (Rochester), Jinill Kim (FRB), Sokbae Lee (UCL, UK) and Donghoon Lee (NY Fed). More than forty KEA and KAEA members enjoyed this seminar. The second seminar was on "Successful application strategy for studying abroad." And three KAEA members lead the discussion: Sunghyun Kim (Suffolk), Choong Shik Kang (IMF) and YongSeok Shin (Washington Univ at St. Louis). Many graduate and undergraduate students participated in this seminar.

A detailed list of the participants and papers are available at the KEA homepage http://www.kea.ne.kr/renewal/main/main.php.

Pictures of KEA/KAEA conference.

Following papers are selected for presentation at the KEA/KAEA conference:

The Thirteenth International Conference sponsored jointly by the Korea-America Economic Association and Korea Economic Association will be held on Aug 12-13. Conference venue is Sungkyunkwan University and the main theme of the conference is "Leap-off Strategy for Global Korea." We are soliciting about 20-25 papers in all areas of economics, either empirical or theoretical. Total financial support provided by the KEA and KAEA will be about $1,500. Lodging for paper presenters will be provided by the KEA.

Submission: Submit your completed paper with an abstract of 200-400 words, including the JEL code, by e-mail to Vice President, Sunghyun Kim (sunghyun.kim@tufts.edu ). Abstracts will also be considered, but the chance for acceptance is better with the completed papers.

Submission deadline: April 30, 2008.

More detailed information on the main theme of the conference and the support level will be announced when it becomes available.

To submit a paper, one has to be (or become) a lifetime KAEA member or has paid his/her annual membership dues for 2007 and 2008 by the time of submission.

The 6th KDI-KAEA Conference was held on July 8th at the KDI Main conference Hall. The title of the conference was "Enhancing Productivity and Sustaining Growth," and there were six sessions: (1) Exchange rate and current account, (2) R&D and school quality, (3) Corporate governance, (4) Pay inequality and living standard of the lowest group, (5) Macro-economy, and (6) Macroeconomic policy analysis. Nine members of the KAEA presented their papers and two members participated as discussants.

Dr. Shim Sang Dal of the KDI worked as an organizer on the KDI side and produced an excellent program. Average quality of presented papers and participation rates were much better than previous years. Selected papers presented at the conference will be published at the Korea Development Review. KDI is working hard to put this journal in the SSCI journal list. President Hyun Jung Taek of the KDI hosted reception and lunch for the participants.

Pictures of KDI and BOK conferences.

Following papers are selected for presentation at the KDI/KAEA conference:

The KAEA invites manuscripts for the 2008 KDI-KAEA joint conference to be held on July 8, 2008. The main theme of the conference is "Enhancing Productivity and Sustaining Growth." The conference seeks research papers on any economic topics related to Korea and global economy. Each paper selected for presentation will receive travel support of 2,000,000 Korean won. Additional 1,500,000 won will be given to each paper selected for publication in the KDI Journal of Economic Policy. The Editorial Board has completed its application process to enlist KDI Journal of Economic Policy on the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). The Board is currently inviting papers that have implications regarding Korea's economic policy, including openness, coping with population aging, macroeconomy, enhancing productivity, tax reform, and corporate policy. Submitted papers will be automatically considered for publication in this journal. Please indicate in your submission letter if you want to skip this publication opportunity. However, priorities will be given to the papers submitted to both conference and journal. Local accommodation will be provided for conference participants from outside of Seoul for the duration of two nights and three days.

Submission: Submit your completed paper with an abstract of 200-400 words, including the JEL code, by e-mail to Vice President Sunghyun Kim (sunghyun.kim@tufts.edu). Only completed papers will be considered. Submitted papers will be reviewed by the referees selected by both the KDI and the KAEA.

Submission deadline: April 30, 2008.

To submit a paper, one has to be (or become) a lifetime KAEA member or has paid his/her annual membership dues for 2007 and 2008 by the time of submission.

In addition to three regular sessions, KAEA--in conjunction with KEA--plans to hold one or two WORKSHOPS at the San Francisco ASSA meeting depending on the number of submitted papers. Following the same format as in the past, the workshops will be held on the morning of the last day (January 5th, starting at 10 AM) right after the panel discussion session. Please note that these are not official ASSA-sponsored sessions and thus will not be advertised in the ASSA program book. These workshops are intended to increase the interaction and exchange of ideas among the workshop participants working on various issues, including those related to Korea. Please note that no financial support is expected for the participants.

Guidelines for Paper Submission: Completed papers should be submitted to kaeapaper@gmail.com. Submission deadline is September 1, 2008. (Decision will be made within a week; only accepted papers will be notified.)

To submit a paper for the workshop, one has to be (or become) a lifetime KAEA member, or one has paid his/her annual membership dues for 2007 and 2008 by the time of submission.

The 2009 convention of the Applied Social Science Association will be held in San Francisco, CA, January 3-5, 2009. The KAEA will sponsor three sessions at this annual convention including one joint session with AEA, and two sessions of contributed papers. Preliminary program can be seen by clicking on ASSA/KAEA PROGRAM.

The 2009 convention of the Applied Social Science Association will be held in San Francisco, CA, January 3-5, 2009. The KAEA will sponsor three sessions at this annual convention including one joint session with AEA. This joint session is already organized with invited papers and submitted to the AEA office. KAEA members are invited to submit papers for the other two sessions. Papers do not have to be on Korean economy related issues.

Guidelines for Paper Submission: Abstract of 200-400 words (and a completed paper if available) should be submitted by e-mail to kaeapaper@gmail.com. This email is used for paper submission only; all other correspondences should use personal email addresses of KAEA officers.

Submission deadline: May 10, 2008.

To submit a paper, one has to be (or become) a lifetime KAEA member or has paid his/her annual membership dues for 2007 and 2008 by the time of submission.