식민지기 조선인 1인당 소득과 소비에 관한 논의의 검토

Abstract

Joo Ik -Jong was in charge of writing the sections regarding the standard of living in several books, including Economic Growth in Korea 1910-1945 (2006), National Accounts of Korea 1911-2010 (2012), and New Understanding of Korean History around the Liberation Period (2006). He argued that per capita GDP and per capita real consumption expenditures of Koreans increased by approximately 70% during the colonial period. This finding suggests that the physical standard of living of Koreans improved significantly, and directly refutes the theory of colonial exploitation. The purpose of this study is to refute Joo’s argument by generalizing his model. In my generalized model, I show that the per capita GDP of Koreans depended mainly on the growth rate of the GDP and that his argument relies on inaccurately estimated growth rates of the GDP. If we modify the exaggerated growth rate from 1910 to 1917 and consider the Korean economy’s collapse between 1941 and 1945, the GDP growth rate of Korea will decline significantly. And in this low growth rate, the per capita GDP of Koreans will be reduced. The argument through the colonial modernity that per capita GDP and per capita consumption expenditures of Koreans increased substantially under Japanese colonial rule is opposed to the facts.