EMBEDDED AND AUTONOMOUS MARKETS IN NORTH KOREA'S FISHING INDUSTRY: RESOURCE SCARCITY, MONITORING COSTS, AND EVOLVING INSTITUTIONS. (March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ward, Peter; Lankov, Andrei; Kim, Jiyoung
• Is Part Of: Journal of East Asian studies. Volume 21:Number 1(2021)
• Page Start: 53
• Page End: 74
• Publication Date: 2021-03
• Subjects: North Korea -- marketization -- embeddedness -- resource scarcity -- monitoring costs -- institutional evolution -- fishing industry -- case study; East Asia -- Periodicals; East Asia -- Politics and government -- Periodicals; East Asia -- Economic conditions -- Periodicals; East Asia -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; 950.05
• DOI: 10.1017/jea.2020.33
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1598-2408

Abstract

Abstract: North Korea today is a most unusual post-socialist state. Market actors and market prices are integral to economic life, but private property remains illegal, and private enterprise outside the household is de jure non-existent. In such an institutional context, some market processes are more autonomous in relation to the state, while others are more embedded within state structures. In this article, we offer a theoretical account of the shape that North Korea's market economy has taken, developed from a set of fishing industry case studies. We note four broad categories of enterprises: closely embedded, loosely embedded, semi-autonomous, and autonomous. By relative autonomy/embeddedness we mean control over fixed assets, cash flow, and operational decisions such as wage and price setting. We postulate three major determinants of embeddedness/autonomy: (1) relative strategic resource scarcity between state and market actors, (2) monitoring costs, and (3) institutional evolution that reflects these realities, though to varying extents.