Three decades of market liberalisation have not delivered sustained growth or greater social mobility
The writer is a professor of economics at Soas, University of London. His latest book is ‘Edible Economics’ They’ve done it again. South Korean citizens have put pressure on parliamentarians to impeach a president by taking to the streets in millions — as they did back in 2016. Even though the impeachment is yet to be confirmed by the constitutional court, the case is far more clear-cut.
Today, public social spending in Korea is below 15 per cent of GDP, among the lowest in the OECD. All this has created a sense of hopelessness and pessimism about the future, manifested in the world’s lowest birth rate and the highest suicide rate in the OECD. Life is hard, particularly for the over-65s, who suffer from the OECD’s highest old-age poverty rate. This sense of disaffection, which pervades groups across society, has left people vulnerable to rightwing demagogues such as Yoon.
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