• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.277-282
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• 2005

This study focuses on the imported silver goods from Japan and investigates the backgrounds of importing, trade items, and the amount of the exchange. This study also investigates the effects of the importing silver on Chosun society. A large amount of silver was imported from Japan and the amount of imported silver reached its maximum in Chosun Dynasty. Japan, on the other hand, imported a large quantity of cotton cloth from Chosun Dynasty. Silver was imported mainly because of the sumptuous moods among the royal family and the aristocracy. The moods were spread out to general people who made them wish for the luxurious and expensive chinese goods. To buy the luxurious goods, a lot of silver was imported from Japan. Importing a large quantity of silver fostered the sumptuous moods and also caused the price increase in the Chosun society. The order of the society became worse because of the individual trades of rich merchants who were closely connected to high officials.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.15-25
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• 2003

This study provides references to reduce consumer dissatisfaction by identifying the level of consumer dissatisfaction after the purchase and use of imported famous brand goods. In addition, it was aimed to provide basic materials for consumer education programs that will induce the rational consumption of imported famous brand goods. The survey was conducted on females in their 20s and 30s. A total of 483 questionnaires were used for the analysis. The results were as follows：(1) Consumer dissatisfaction with the purchase and use of imported famous brand goods showed a slightly higher level than the median and, (2) consumers had a lower level of consumer dissatisfaction when they had a higher ability to use internet information, greater financial stress, a higher educational level, and a greater availability of consumer education through newspapers and magazines. Additionally, consumers had a higher level of consumer dissatisfaction when they had greater holdings of imported famous brand goods, greater monthly income, and more experiences with overseas travel.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Costume
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.65-73
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• 2002

This research is to reveal an aspect of costume culture interchange in the relationship of the early Chosun Dynasty, by considering the imported goods from Japan, of the trading goods derived by the trade diplomacy between the two countries in the early Korea-Japan relationship in the medieval era. The research results are as follows. A good-neighbor Policy in the early Chosun Dynasty was established by a link of a barbarian ban policy to blockade the frequent intrusion by Japanese barbarians. The exchange was the form of presenting a return present in return for a tribute to the Chosun Dynasty from the Japanese envoy, which has a polycentric characteristic. Pusanpo, Naipo, and Yumpo were designated as the open ports, which played a pivotal role in the Korea-Japan exchange. In trading goods between Korean and Japan. the imported goods from Japan to Korea were a wide variety of items primarily such as dyes, mordant, medicines, steel, spicers, etc. In particular, Somok used as a red mordant, which were intermediate goods to Southeast Asia, was the most heavily-traded items of imported goods from Japan. It had been consumed primarily as a raw material making the costume suit of the royal family and the aristocracy. The increased import of Somok was derived from a thought of preferred red color by our people. As its inflow was increased. the costumes tended to be luxurious In early Chosun Dynasty and resulted in social issues. This active trading from the early Chosun Dynasty caused from the communication of the Japanese envoy. In addition the study of the trading provided an opportunity that can glance at an aspect of the costume culture, though It was fractionary.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.383-391
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• 2011

Traditional international trade theory assumes that import goods and domestically produced goods of the same industry are equal in quality. However the substitutability of the two goods is imperfect. This article estimated the import functions of pulp and paper using econometric and vector autoregressive models, and calculated the elasticities of substitution between imported and domestically produced pulp and paper. The import of pulp is inelastic to import price and domestic price, and elastic to national income in econometric model. And it is inelastic to import price, domestic price and national income in vector autoregressive model. On the other hand, the import of paper is inelastic to domestic price, and elastic to import price and national income in econometric model. And it is inelastic to import price and domestic price, and elastic to national income in vector autoregressive model. The elasticity of substitution between imported and domestically produced pulp was positive, and the elasticity was respectively 0.42 and 0.20 in econometric and vector autoregressive models. This may be because of the high proportion of imports. On the other hand, the elasticity of substitution between imported and domestically produced paper was positive, and the elasticity was respectively 0.75 and 0.81 in econometric and vector autoregressive models. This may be because the quality of imported paper is different from that of domestically produced paper.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.855-866
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• 2016

This study explored the concept and use of two kinds of textiles goods (Cheongpo [blue textile] and Samseung) sold by Cheongpo-jeon merchants in the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. Research was conducted based on an analysis of relevant documents published during the Joseon Dynasty. The Cheongpo-jeon was a merchant group that predated 1637. They sold various imported goods such as Cheongpo, Samseung, cotton textiles, felts, hats, incense, and needles. Cheongpo and Samseung were the main products among these imported goods. Cheongpo was a blue cotton textile imported from China that was sold by Chengpo-jeon merchants. The Samseung sold by merchants was a kind of imported textile whose surface provided a feeling like cotton flannel. The concept of the two textiles were different from existing ideas. Generally, the Cheongpo was believed to be a hemp fabric dyed in blue and the Samseung was a textile with a density of three seung (a traditional density unit of textiles). Cheongpo was used as a currency for war supplies during the two Japanese invasions of Korea (1592 to 1598). In addition, it was also used to make military uniforms, tents, and flags after the Japanese invasion. Samseung was used in the combat uniforms of Chinese soldiers from Ming China during the Japanese invasion of Korea. In addition, it was continuously used to make quilted gambeson amour and some of military uniforms until the $19^{th}$ century.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.76-87
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• 1998

This study analyzed the effect of foreign currency exchange rate on the increasing rate of medical care cost by items of fee schedule of Korean Medical Insurance. This study uses the data of cost analysis including cost of imported goods and the data of for a university hospital National Federation's Medical Insurance for a trend of claim. The method of cost analysis is as same as that used in the study of the development of Korean RBRVS(Resource Based Relative Valus Scale). The main findings of this study are as follows; 1. The proportion of imported goods in cost related to Medical Insurance fee schedule is 7.93%, and in case of substitution of available domestic goods 6.96%. 2. If foreign currency exchange rate changes from 800wen per $1 to 1,300won, the affecting rate of Medical Insurance fee schedules is 5.00%. If the imported goods will be substituted with available domestic goods, the rate 4.35%. Our results can be used a data for updating Medical Insurance fee schedule. But this result is limited to be generalized, because this study used the cost analysis for a university hospital.

• KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.3-33
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• 1991

Since the early 1980's, the Korean government has gradually been widening the Korean market to foreign consumer goods. This, combined with the increased purchasing power of the Korean consumers resulting from the continued economic growth of the country, has sparked a spectacular influx of foreign consumer goods into Korea, ranging from BMW's to chopsticks. Import of foreign consumer goods amounted to more than 6 billion dollars in 1989 and is continuing to grow at a rapid rate. The increased import of foreign consumer goods doubtlessly improved the overall welfare of the Korean consumers by providing them with a wider range of options to choose from, by lowering the prices of some of the consumer goods domestically produced, and also by forcing the producers of some Korean goods to face competition with better foreign goods, thus giving them an incentive to raise the quality of their products. However, it is agreed by most economists that this increase in general welfare has been much smaller than what they had expected at the outset. Consumer prices of most imported consumer goods are easily double the import price, and in some cases, more than treble the import prices. Further, there has not been a noticeable drop in the prices of domestically produced consumer goods. Much of the blame has been attributed to the distribution sector of Korea. The objective of this paper is to analyze the imported consumer goods distribution sector of Korea, focusing on the possible sources of the poor performance of that sector, and to make policy suggestions that could potentially increase the welfare. This paper differs from all the previous research by others on this subject in that it analyzes the imported consumer goods distribution sector of Korea as a vertical structure. The distribution sector of an imported consumer good is a vertical structure since it consists of an international market, an import stage, and domestic wholesale and retail markets, in that order vertically. Our study naturally includes the analysis of the vertical restraints as well as the analysis of the industrial organization of each horizontal stage in the vertical structure. Each horizontal component of the imported consumer goods distribution sector is basically a monopolistically competitive market differentiated by characteristics of goods and by the locations and the services of firms. Further, restrictive dealership and resale price maintenance are found to be widely in use. Our main findings are the follwing; First, most consumer goods are imported monopolistically or oligopolistically through restrictive dealership contracts between foreign producers and domestic importers. Such restrictive dealership gives importers market power in the domestic market and explains many of the large discrepancies betwen the consumer prices and the import prices of many goods. Korean anti - trust law does not cover the issues arising from the market power of an importer resulting from a restrictive dealership contract. Second, some major producers of Korean goods are also importers of foreign goods that are substitutes of their products. The import of substitutes by major domestic producers is anti - competitive because it tends to raise the prices of both domestic goods and foreign goods, and also because it reduces the incentive of the domestic producers to raise the quality of their products. Third, wholesalers and retailers widely use resale price maintenance as a price fixing mechanism, and while this is against the anti- trust law, it seldom gets noticed. Fourth, the high level of rents of real estate for commercial use works as an entry barrier to the distribution sector and results in reduced competition by the firms in that sector. Finally, there are information problems. Consumers have inferior information to firms about the quality of a foreign consumer good that they have not tried before. Such information asymmetry often enables firms to raise prices. In addition, information asymmetry between importers frequently delays the import of cheaper substitutes. In order to alleviate the problems indentified above, we suggest the following policy changes. The government should strengthen the anti - trust law and its enforcement to regulate restrictive import contracts, import of competing goods by major domestic producers, and RPM by wholesalers and retailers that is aimed at price fixing. In addition, the government should loosen its tight real estate policy to encourage investment in the distribution sector. Finally, we suggest that the import price revelation policy that has been in use for some items since 1990 be expanded to most imported consumer goods that are introduced for the first time to give consumer better information and be used only for the period of time needed to inform sufficient number of consumers.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.30 no.2 s.150
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• pp.221-232
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• 2006

The purposes of this paper were to identity the present condition of the imported fashion luxury brands' market arid to analyze the differences of marketing strategies according to the types of retailers. We selected 3 department stores, 5 luxury brands, 5 stores in Dongdeamun Market, and 5 internet luxury shopping malls, and conducted key informant survey to 20 experts. The brands in department stores consisted the goods according to VIPs' pre-orders, sales of the previous year, and fashion trends, and offered the differentiated customer services to VIPs. The stores in Dongdaemun Market bought the products from the parallel importers or imported the goods from the original nations of the brands by themselves. The goods in stock and steady sellers were comprised of the main portion of all products, and leather goods were dominated. The price of goods in stock was about $30\∼50\%$ lower than the normal price of department stores, but the new products' price was only about 10$\%$ lower than that of department stores. Luxury shopping malls could be classified into two types; one conducted both product buying and commission sale, and the other conducted commission sale only. In former case, however, the product buying portion was under 30$\%$. Product assortments and the price strategy were similar to the stores of Dongdeamun Market, and CRM was conducted partially.

• Journal of Korea Trade
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.25-44
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• 2021

Purpose - This research aims to provide empirical evidence that highlights the importance of imported intermediate goods in long-term economic growth. To this end, this paper develops an index that measures the productivity gains associated with a country's intermediate goods imports using highly disaggregated trade data. Design/methodology - The basic hypothesis is that countries sourcing higher-productivity (or higher-quality) inputs from developed economies derive a larger benefit from foreign R&D. To explore this hypothesis, standard cross-country growth regressions are performed using the highly disaggregated data from the United Nations (UN) Commodity Trade Statistics Database (COMTRADE). To address the endogeneity issue, I apply an instrumental variable (IV) approach. Findings - The results of this study demonstrate that the index predicts subsequent economic growth in middle- and low-income countries. This finding is consistent with previous studies that have argued that developing countries can achieve substantial productivity gains by importing intermediate inputs from developed countries. By contrast, there is no evidence of a significant association between the index and economic growth in high-income countries. Originality/value - This paper contributes to our understanding of the causal relationship between international trade and economic growth. From an economic policy perspective, the results suggest that developing countries with limited technology endowment can boost growth from input-tariff liberalization.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.331-336
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• 2003

This study is to research the influence of Caesalpinia sappan which was imported through the exchanges between the Chosun dynasty and Japanese envoys during the early Chosun dynasty. Korea interchanged politically and culturally with Japan since ancient times. Particularly, the good-neighbor foreign policy toward Japan grew into trade relations. The diplomatic mission, under the name of Tongshinsa, was dispatched 12 times in total. Plenty of goods were exchanged through the visiting of Japanese envoys as well as through the activities of Korean envoys. In other words, the Korean-Japanese relations were at first focused on the political and diplomatic etiquette and gradually evolved into economic exchanges. Trading goods were various, including food, clothing, etc. Caesalpinia sappan, a red dye, was the most imported goods from Japan, but it was sold at a very high price, which caused luxurious trends in clothing. However, these sumptuous moods of the upper classes were decreased in the 16th century. Some of the reasons are : the difficulties of Japan's trade with the Caesalpinia sappan producing countries in South-east Asia, the transition of the high classes' preference from red clothing into Chinese BaecSa and SaraNeungDan, and the comparative decrease in the demand of Caesalpinia sappan by the changed understanding of Honghwa. Therefore, the early Chosun dynasty's clothing trends were due to the relationships between the Chosun dynasty and Japan.