Republic of Korea’s Participation in Global Value Chains: How to Increase Forward Participation, by Alin Horj

Alin Horj examines the role of global value chains for the Republic of Korea`s growth, arguing that participation is mainly driven by exports of high-tech industries that are fragmented along the production networks and have intense usage of foreign intermediates. An analysis of forward participation and backward participation suggests that Korea should increase its forward participation by investing in sectors that are less fragmented, such as upgraded services links and software, which are less likely to be sliced up along the value chain of production.

Read “Republic of Korea’s Participation in Global Value Chains: How to Increase Forward Participation,” by Alin Horj.

Alin Horj is a second-year M.A. student at SAIS, concentrating in Southeast Asia Studies and International Economics. Prior to SAIS, Alin lived in Thailand for one year, interning with the United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and researching on environmental issues at the Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. He plans to work in Southeast Asia on regional trade policies and trade facilitation. As an undergraduate student at Ca` Foscari University in Venice and Georgia State University in Atlanta, he obtained a double degree in Economics and studied abroad in Belgium and France.

Back to the 2014 SAIS U.S.-Korea Yearbook.