This study introduces a capability-based network framework for analyzing actor heterogeneity in the Korean national R D system. Using project-level data from the National Science and Technology Information System (NTIS)—comprising 63,305 R D projects conducted by 593 innovation actors across 222 science and technology fields in 2021—we construct an R D Actor Space in which universities, firms, and government research institutes (GRIs) are connected by similarity in their research portfolios. The framework complements existing Triple Helix and innovation system perspectives by focusing on capability heterogeneity within actor categories. The resulting network is positively assortative: high-degree actors tend to connect with other highly connected actors, with within-type rich-club patterns among firms and GRIs but a more degree-egalitarian connectivity pattern among universities. Hierarchical clustering reveals a stratification that is type-coherent yet sectorally organized: universities anchor a densely connected central region, firms form multiple capability-coherent industry sub-clusters, and a heterogeneous mixed region interleaves all three types in sectoral groupings that cut across institutional categories. The findings highlight a capability-composition mismatch between universities and firms and show that cross-type structure is organized more by sectoral portfolio similarity than by institutional category alone. We discuss implications for Korean R D policy and outline comparative and longitudinal extensions.

The Triple Helix model has provided a foundational framework for analyzing National Innovation Systems by highlighting the roles of universities, industries, and government research institutes. However, increasing heterogeneity within these actor groups limits the explanatory power of typological approaches. This study introduces a capability-based network methodology that maps the structural relationships among innovation actors based on the similarity of their research and development (R D) capabilities. Drawing on Economic Complexity Theory, we measure each actor's revealed comparative advantage (RCA) across scientific and technological fields and construct an R D Actor Space - a proximity-based network that reflects the relational configuration of innovation capacities. Applying this method to Korean R D data, we uncover a stratified system in which central, highly diversified universities coexist with more specialized firms and government institutes. Network analysis reveals assortative and unequal structures, and hierarchical clustering further highlights layered subgroupings. By moving beyond categorical classification, this capability-based network approach provides a scalable and generalizable tool for analyzing structural complexity within national innovation systems.

How does an underdeveloped country enter new industries? This study seeks to answer this question by arguing that the country learns the diversification paths from its rivals with similar export structures. Constructing a panel dataset of export production covering 133 countries from 1963 to 2018, this study suggests a network space of how countries are similar in export using a new metric of imitation density. Fixed effect and logistic models are used to test the causal relationship between the existence of industries in countries with similar industrial structures and diversification to these industries. Further, a case study of four Asian countries is considered. The results suggest that imitation density's influence on diversification does not vary with a country's development level. Diversified products' complexity correlates more with imitation density at lower economic complexity. This suggests that countries diversify into complex products through imitation (innovation) at lower (higher) economic complexity, providing empirical evidence of the transition from imitation to innovation.

This study investigates the skill structures of European countries and their transformations from the perspective of capability development. The constructed skill space illustrates the skill sets of European nations based on product space methodology by linking skill occupation and occupation-country data from 2011 to 2018. The results show that there are remarkable differences in skill structures among countries, and there is a strong path dependence in skill development. The findings suggest that skill convergence is unlikely to occur and that skill inequality among countries requires serious consideration.

Regional trade agreements are vigorously debated, especially since the effects of trade on economic development is uncertain. Since East Asian trade occurs mostly within the region, we examine how trade structures might affect economic growth and provide directionality. The role of export composition is known to affect the rate of growth of emerging economies depending on trade structure similarity. This paper analyses the role of export baskets in the economic growth of developing countries in Southeast Asia, and tests the hypothesis that similarity of export structures leads to economic catch-up by providing directionality. The empirical analysis uses export data of East Asian countries to measure the bilateral similarities in export structures between the past and the present trade structures of Southeast Asian countries and comparing them withNortheast Asian countries that became wealthier earlier and Southeast Asian countries that tend to be latecomers. We find that the similarity of export structure provides directionality based on the overall competitiveness of a country's export sectors. This study fills the previous research gap of structural change from the perspectives of catch-up and directionality, by analysing the linkage between export structure convergence and economic catch-up, and linkage between export structure diversification and path-dependence.

This study examines the effects of two types of technological capabilities, i.e. implementation and design capabilities, across different industrial development stages, and coherent yet evolving innovation policies to foster each of the technological capabilities. This framework provides a theoretical basis to analyse the two different types of non-continuous transitions between the stages of industrial development. It also explains that these transitions come from the accumulation of technological capability led by deliberate policy intervention to manage the transition process. The Korean industrial development experience shows how the country's innovation policies and following upgrades in technological capability led to successful transitions of industries. The lessons from Korean development provide strong policy implications to countries facing slowdowns during industrial transitions, and explain the slowdowns from the perspective of two distinct technological capabilities.

본 연구는 국가의 경제발전과 수출다각화 간의 관계를 규명한다. 특히, 비연관다각화 지수인 Long Jump Ratio (엄원섭 외, 2022)를 도입하고, 국가가 발전함에 있어서 수출구조의 비연관다각화 역할에 대해서 이해한다. 그동안 경제발전을 위해 경로의존성을 가지는 연관다각화가 강조되었지만, 일부 선행연구에서는 경제성장을 달성한 국가에서 경로이탈적인 비연관다각화가 중요한 역할을 했음을 주장한다. 이러한 대립 논쟁을 이해하기 위해 본 연구에서는 전 세계 국가를 대상으로 정량분석을 진행한다. 1963년부터 2017년까지 205개국을 대상으로 한 회귀분석과 사례분석한 결과에 따르면, 비연관다각화 지수(Long Jump Ratio)와 1인당 GDP 간에는 역 U자형 관계가 나타난다. 다시 말해, 중저소득국가에서는 농수산물 위주의 수출구조에서 경공업, 중화학공업 등으로 비연관다각화가 증가(Long Jump Ratio 증가)하는 역량도입을 통해 성장한다. 이후 선진국단계에서는 새로운 영역으로 다각화를 추구하기보다 기존 제품영역에서의 역량을 강화(Long Jump Ratio 감소)하는 역량심화가 필요하다. 본 연구는 수출구조의 비연관다각화 관점에서 경제발전 과정을 이해하는 프레임워크를 제안하고, 지속 성장을 위한 혁신 및 산업정책 수립에 있어 시사점을 제공한다.

This study uses a representative sample of Korean manufacturing firms for the period 2010–2018 to examine the relationship between firm size and growth in various aspects. The main findings are as follows. First, smaller firms have a higher average growth rate and wider growth dispersion (growth variance) across the firms. Second, the growth rates of micro and small firms show negative growth persistence resulting in a volatile growth pattern. In contrast, medium and large firms have a high probability that the growth rates persist over time, indicating a stable growth pattern. Third, the first and second findings are robustly observed regardless of the disaggregated sectors in the manufacturing industry, which are divided based on their technological-intensity levels. The findings imply that (a) it is necessary to analyze and understand differences in growth patterns by firm size and (b) firm growth requires policies tailored to the size of firms.

본 연구는 동아시아 지역의 중간소득 국가 16개국을 분석하여, 수출상품 다각화 유형과 경제발전의 관계를 규명하고자 한다. 구체적으로는 수출상품의 다각화 유형을 경로이탈적 다각화와 경로의존적 다각화로 구분하여, 동아시아의 중간소득 국가들이 어떠한 유형에 속해 있는지 파악하고, 경로이탈적 다각화가 경제성장에 어떠한 영향을 주는지 살펴본다. 이를 위해, 1962년부터 2019년까지의 수출 데이터를 활용하여, 국가의 도전적 신산업 비율(기존 산업과 다른 산업에 진입한 비율)을 표현하기 위한 새로운 지수를 제시한다. 분석의 주요 결과는, 전통적인 비교우위 이론과 다르게, 경로이탈적 다각화가 아시아 국가들의 경제발전에 긍정적인 영향을 끼쳤음을 보인다. 이를 통해 본 연구는 1) 경로의존성 이론에 실증적 근거를 제공하며, 2) 경로이탈적 수출상품 다각화의 표현을 위한 새로운 지수를 제시하며, 3) 중간소득 국가의 산업 육성 전략은 경로이탈적 산업 진입을 통해 비교우위의 동적 변화를 이끌어 낼 수 있는 정책이 필요함을 시사한다.

본 연구는 스마트 특성화 이론에 지식 관점을 더한 지식기반 신산업 스마트 특성화 프레임워크를 제시하여, 한국, 일본 및 중국의 신산업 창출 가능성과 해당 산업에서의 기술우위를 파악한다. 이를 위해, 1980-2016년 동안 동아시아 3개국의 산업별 수출 데이터와 USPTO 특허 자료를 활용한다. 주요 분석결과를 정리하면 다음과 같다. 첫째, 그 동안 동아시아 국가의 신산업 결정은 기존 산업과 연관성이 높은 분야로 진출하는 경로의존성이 나타난다. 둘째, 과거 각 국가의 신산업 진출이 가능한 선택지는 상이하였으며, 이는 시간에 따라 변화해왔다. 마지막으로, 각 국가에서 향후 진출이 예상되는 신산업 분야는 차이가 있지만, 다른 동아시아 국가들이 기존에 우위를 점하고 있는 분야로의 진출이 많아 경쟁이 더욱 심화 될 것으로 파악된다. 본 연구의 결과는 향후 성공적인 신산업을 육성하기 위해서 현재 국가의 산업구조뿐만 아니라 지식구조를 바탕으로 경쟁력을 가질 신산업 분야를 선제적으로 예측하고, 전략적 접근이 필요함을 시사한다.

Since the Basic Law of Shokuiku (nutrition education) was established in 2005, the Japanese government has been promoting nutrition education among children to encourage better eating habits. This study analyzes the 2019 survey data on people’s attitudes towards nutrition education, in order to elucidate the relationship between the results of nutrition education, attitude towards nutrition education and proper eating habits, and the experience of nutrition education. The results reveal that people who received nutrition education at elementary school and middle school tend to have a more positive attitude towards nutrition education. In addition, family conversation on foods during elementary school years has a positive effect on nutritionally balanced eating behavior.

This study analyzes different diversification options of countries at different economic stages, and complements the previous diversification literature from the perspective of coevolution between production and technological capability. This study points out that path dependence theories concerning diversification patterns of countries cannot give useful policy implications to developing countries, because they can only take either the "high-risk high-return" or "low-risk low-return" tracks. The analysis includes 84 countries from 1980 to 2005, and studies the close relationship between product space and knowledge space to understand the alternative drivers of product and technological diversification. The results show that countries at different income levels have different factors of diversification. Specifically, production capability of developing countries guides future technological diversification, and technological capability of developed countries leads to product diversification in related products.

This study examines the relationship between an entrepreneur's experience and firm performance and the changes in this relationship following an initial public offering (IPO). The analysis uses unique panel data (2000–2017) of all newly listed 251 high‐tech small‐ and medium‐sized Korean firms to find an inverse U‐shaped relationship between the entrepreneur's age at the time of establishment, as a proxy of experience, and entrepreneurial performance. The results suggest that accumulated experience plays an important role in entrepreneurial performance, and current policies for young entrepreneurs need to be redesigned.

This study examined the national-level co-evolutionary paths between closely interconnected production and technological capabilities during industrial development. In particular, this study suggests that these co-evolutionary paths do not result in smooth and path-following evolution of the industrial structure, as simple assembly often obscures path-dependence during industrial diversification. Rather, these paths include frequent diversification to less related products based on technological capabilities during its industrial development. This study suggests a framework to understand these co-evolutionary paths, and identifies three patterns behind successful industrial development: path-defying diversification towards core products, knowledge accumulation by production, and knowledge-based diversification. Analyses through the linkage between product and knowledge spaces visualize co-evolutionary paths. A case study of the Korean experience further identifies policies and patterns of capability development during industrial development. Based on these discussions, this study suggests different policy implications for countries at different stages of a successful transition to the next stage.

This paper investigates whether production capabilities fostered the development of new technological capabilities at the national level. The authors adopt the concept of 'product space' and 'technology space' for network analysis, and analyze whether the current production capability in related technologies influences the future technological capability. The main comparative analysis is based on export data and international patent data from 1980 to 2005, and ALP (Algorithmic Links with Probabilities) concordance to link production and innovation. The results show that past production advantages of a country plays a significant role in the emergence of new technological advantages. This finding suggests that current production capability provides evolution paths not only to new products, but also to technological innovations.

Importance of complementarity among institutional factors in the policy system has been highlighted recently. This paper tries to specifically examine institutional complementarity during policy emulation, by looking at the international cases of general trading companies in 1970 to 80s, from Korea, Taiwan, and United States. The results argue that even with a successfully proven policy would need to consider the relevant institutional backgrounds of a country during adoption, and the different results from similar policy in different countries come from the difference in institutional complementarity in their formal and informal rules.

Religion is a popular topic to be considered as one of the major factors that affect people’s lifestyles. However, religion is one of the social factors that most economists are very careful in stating a connection with economic variables. Among few researchers who are keen to find how religions influence the economic growth, Barro had several publications with individual religious activities or beliefs and Montalvo and Reynal-Querol on religious diversity. In this paper, I challenge their studies by using more recent data, and test whether their arguments hold still for different data over time. In the first part of the paper, I first write down a simple macroeconomics equation from Mankiw, Romer, and Weil (1992) that explains GDP growth with several classical variables. I test Montalvo and Reynal-Querol (2003)’s variables – religious fragmentation and religious polarization – and look at them in their continents. Also, I test whether monthly attendance, beliefs in hell/heaven influence GDP growth, which Barro and McCleary (2003) used. My results demonstrate that the results from Barro’s paper that show a significant correlation between economic growth and religious activities or beliefs may not hold constant for different time period. My results also demonstrate neither religious fragmentation nor religious polarization is statistically significant with updated dataset. From these results, I suggest that religious variables do not have a significant, constant influence on economic growth.