Learning and innovation in economic development

In this carefully chosen selection of essays, Linsu Kim - one of Korea's foremost social scientists, who is advising the Korean government on reform strategy in light of the recent crisis - identifies the evolutionary processes and patterns of learning, capability building, and innovation in catch-up countries. He suggests that catch-up economies display different patterns of learning and innovation to more advanced countries.

Using the example of Korea, he examines industries such as consumer electronics, machinery, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and semiconductors, all of which have been important contributors to Korea's economic growth and development. Linsu Kim analyses both the formal and informal mechanisms Korea has used in acquiring technologies from, mainly, advanced countries. He considers how these technologies are assimilated rapidly into the local economy, and in some cases improved to increase Korea's international competitiveness. This examination and extension of the theory of learning and innovation has many useful implications for both catch-up economies and also advanced countries. It offers analytical frameworks which policymakers and managers can use in formulating and evaluating public policies and corporate strategies.