Is the Mixed Economic System of North Korea Sustainable in the Long Run?: An Evolutionary Approach
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Nathan Berg
Abstract
In this paper, we attempt to analyze whether North Korea’s mixed economic system, with a planned sector and an illegal market sector, is sustainable in the long run. Using an evolutionary game theoretic approach, our model describes distinct ways in which North Korea’s planned economy could eventually be displaced by a decentralized market economy. As more people trade using unofficial market transactions, the probability that they will be apprehended and punished or fined declines, thereby increasing the expected payoff from market transactions. An extension of this model demonstrates how the government could introduce legal but more restricted markets as a strategy to prevent further decentralization. Our model suggests, however, that there is perhaps surprisingly broad scope for government-owned stores to become replaced by private markets. Evolutionary game theory provides one way to understand which kinds of shocks could lead to such a transition in which economic agents gradually adopt trading institutions that fit better with their changing environment.
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Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: This research was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2022S1A5A2A0304932311).
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Reflections on Translating Law and Economic Models for Lawyers and Law Professors
- Designing a CBDC to Empower the Oppressed
- Research Articles
- Is the Mixed Economic System of North Korea Sustainable in the Long Run?: An Evolutionary Approach
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Reflections on Translating Law and Economic Models for Lawyers and Law Professors
- Designing a CBDC to Empower the Oppressed
- Research Articles
- Is the Mixed Economic System of North Korea Sustainable in the Long Run?: An Evolutionary Approach
- Measuring Going Concern Viability and the Effect of Interim Financing Under the Indian Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016
- Article
- Comparative Impacts of Ex-Ante and Ex-Post Regulation in Digital Markets: An Event Study Analysis of Stock Price Reactions
