By Park Hyong-ki
Staff Reporter
A French economist advised the Korean government to improve its national brand as part of efforts to boost its economic growth.
In a meeting Wednesday with President Lee Myung-bak, Guy Sorman said, ``Korea needs to foster national and cultural brands to boost its economic competitiveness globally.''
Sorman came to Korea at the invitation of President Lee to give members of the presidential office's future planning commission economic advice at its inaugural meeting. Sorman was appointed as one of the commission's global advisors.
Korea is suffering from low GDP growth as the quantity of work has diminished over the years, he said.
``In South Korea, the quantity of work invested in the economy has been reduced. The consequence was that GDP growth went down,'' said Sorman at a seminar hosted by the Institute for Global Economics, ahead of his meeting with President Lee.
Citing Nobel Laureate Edward Prescott's economic theory, Sorman said even though countries around the world produce the same automobiles, apply the same management techniques and provide the same services, the GDP growth differences among economies come from the number of working hours and the level of competition.
For instance, countries such as Germany, Italy, France and Japan started to slow down once their labor quantity ebbed as their economy matured.
In the case of Korea, the economist said its economy is slowing, but not because it has matured.
``Maturity is not a valid economic argument. You are mature only when your wealth has accumulated similar to the U.S. But Korea has not,'' said Sorman, adding that as long as Korea is behind the leader, there is room to catch up.
``Korea is still on a learning curve,'' he noted.
He said Korea lacks a competitive drive in global markets, which is also attributable to a slow GDP growth. ``Competition is increasing market size, and Korea is not competing enough in global markets.''
To offset slow economic growth, Korea needs to increase flexibility in the labor market, although this may seem extremely difficult to implement, the economist said.
Also, to boost flexibility and promote innovation, Korea should adopt higher learning system by further opening up the education market.
``Korea is not very open to the rest of the world. There are few foreign students and faculties, and Korean universities are not geared to high growth and global challenges,'' Sorman said.
phk@koreatimes.co.kr