Changes in the Business Cycle of the Korean Economy: Evidence and Explanations

한국 경기변동의 특징 및 안정성에 대한 연구

With a relatively simple quantitative method, this study comprehensively analyzes the characteristics related to business cycles represented by macroeconomic variables of Korea since 1970. This empirical analysis deals with roughly following three topics: How to identify cyclical component with respect to trend; with what characteristics and how the economic variables of each sector move with in the phases of business cycle, and; whether there are signs of a structural change in the phases of business cycle. Section 2 discusses how to identify trends and cycle components, the basis assumption for the analysis of business cycle. Like the Korean economy, where a relatively high growth rate has been maintained, it is appropriate to determine its economic recession based on the fall in the growth trend, not in the absolute level of real output. And, it is necessary to apply the concept of growth cycle against a traditional concept of business cycle. Accordingly the setting of growth trend is of preliminary importance in identifying cyclical fluctuations. The analysis of Korea's GDP data since 1970, the decomposition of trends and cycles through the Band-pass filter is found to appropriately identify the actual phases of busyness cycle. Section 3 analyzes what particular relationship various economic variables have with output fluctuations during the phases of economic cycle, using the corss-correlation coefficients and prediction contribution. Section 4 monitors the stability of the phases of Korea's business cycle and quantitatively verifies whether there is a structural break, and then reviews the characteristics of variations in each sector. And, stylized facts observed through these studies are summarized in the conclusion. The macroeconomic stability of Korea, in particular, is found to continue to improve since 1970, except for the financial crisis period. Not only that, it is found that its volatility of economic growth rate as well as inflation have been reduced gradually. Meanwhile, until recently since 2000, the volatility in domestic demand has remained stable, while that in exports and imports has been increased slightly. But, in an over all perspective, Korea's business cycle variation is on the decline due to shorter response period to shocks and the formation of complementary relationship among economic sectors.

본 연구는 1970년 이후 우리나라 거시경제변수들의 경기변동과 관련된 특징들을 포괄적으로 분석하는 것을 목적으로 한다. 본 연구에서는 우리나라의 각종 거시경제 변수들이 어떠한 특성을 보여 왔는지에 대해 실증분석하였다. 실증분석에서는 크게 국내 경제의 순환적 변동을 어떻게 식별할 것인지, 주요 경제변수들이 전체 경기순환과정에서 어떠한 패턴으로 변동하고 있는지, 그리고 경기변동과정의 안정성에 대한 변화 여부 등의 이슈를 다루었다. 분석 결과, 1970년 이후 우리나라 거시경제의 안정성은 외환위기 기간을 제외하고는 개선되었으며, 특히 2000년 이후부터는 경제내의 부문 간에 상호보완적인 관계가 나타나면서 전체적인 경기변동성이 감소하였던 것으로 나타나고 있다.