The Korea Economic Institute (KEI) is pleased to issue the second of its new “Special Studies.” In contrast to KEI’s other publications, which generally take the form of a compilation of relatively short articles on analytical and policy issues by a number of authors, this series affords individual authors an opportunity to explore in depth a particular topic of current interest relating to Korea.

In this book, Dr. Arthur Alexander makes use of his extensive experience in economic analysis of other Asian countries, particularly Japan, to examine and assess productivity and the return on capital investment in Korea, in both absolute and relative terms. He has compiled and examined extensive data from official and company statistics, and has reached a number of insightful conclusions and informed judgments. Importantly, he has done so in a manner that is academically rigorous but accessible to the general reader.