When and how did Japan catch up with Korea?: A comparative study of the pre-industrial economies of Korea and Japan

Abstract

This paper compares the economic development of Korea and Japan during the past three millennia. In particular, it examines why, although the Korean economy was more advanced from around the six century B.C. to around the sixth century A.D., Japan subsequently surpassed Korea in terms of economic development and the gap continued to widen during the Tokugawa period (1603-1867). It is argued that until the eleventh century, the economic gap between Korea and Japan can be largely explained by geography, while from the twelfth to the seventeenth century, differences in institutions, systems of economic integration, and human capabilities - all shaped by a divergence in political systems - played a key role in Japan's catch-up with Korea.

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