Korea has often fallen prey to international financialcrises including the Asian crisis, the global financialcrisis, and the Eurozone crisis. The impact of the crises has been profound, and they have fundamentally changed not only the Korean economy but also the whole Korean society. Why is Korea likely to become a victim of a crisis even though its economic fundamentals are sound? Why does Korea tend to be more severely damaged than other countries by a crisis once it occurs, no matter where the crisis originates? Is it due to structural problems of the Korean economy or the international financialmarkets? What should be done for Korea to avoid, prevent and overcome a crisis? This book is an attempt to answer these questions, and comprehensively explains the causes and effects of and policy responses to financialcrises, focusing on the Korean experience.

In June Kim

n June Kim is a professor of Economics at the Seoul National University, Korea. He was the dean of the College of Social Sciences at the Seoul National University and the president of the Korean Economic Association. He has also served as a Monetary Policy Committee member at the Bank of Korea, the chairman of the Steering Committee at the Korea Investment Corporation, the chairman of the Financial Development Review Committee at the Ministry of Finance and Economy, and the vice-chairman of the National Economic Advisory Council of Korea. He received his BA in economics at the Dartmouth College and Ph.D. in economics at the Harvard University.

Yeongseop Rhee

Yeongseop Rhee is a professor at the Graduate School of International Studies, Seoul National University, Korea. He was a research fellow at the Korea Development Institute (KDI) and a non-resident fellow of the Brookings Institution. He received his BA in economics at the Seoul National University and Ph.D. in economics at the University of California, Berkeley.