Offspring of Empire: The Koch’ang Kims and the Colonial Origins of Korean Capitalism, 1876–1945

Offspring of Empire: The Koch’ang Kims and the Colonial Origins of Korean Capitalism, 1876–1945

Carter J. Eckert · 2014

3 ideas

Buy on Amazon

1. Oppressive empires can incubate industry

   A foreign power that rules a country harshly can at the same time be the catalyst and cradle of its modern industry. Political domination and economic development are not opposites; the same colonial order that suppresses self-rule can supply the capital, markets and institutions that let local industrial capitalists form.

2. Old wealth finds new outlets

   When markets open, traditional landed fortunes do not simply disappear; landlord families redirect their wealth into commerce and then industry. Landowners, not only merchants, become founders of the new business class by reacting to shifting market forces and fresh opportunities.

3. Capitalism imported, not sprouted

   Industrial capitalism need not grow from homegrown seeds of earlier commerce; it can arrive as a system from outside once a closed economy is forced open to trade. The opening triggers structural changes in the market, and only later, under outside rule, does full industrial capitalism take hold.

Save ideas and give them a thumbs up or down in the app