The impact of globalization on income distribution: the Korean experience

The paper examines the impact of changes in trade values and FDI inflows on the Gini coefficients for Korea. The empirical evidence shows that the concerned variables can, in general, be assumed to be integrated of order one. Johansen-Juselius cointegration tests reveal that the Gini coefficients tend to increase with trade liberalization measures and FDI inflows. That is, the progress of globalization tends to deteriorate the situation of income inequalities in Korea, which supports the Feenstra-Hanson (1997) hypothesis.