Korean Living Standards under Japanese Colonial Rule: A Critical Review of the Longitudinal Trajectory of Stature

Tay, J. (2017). Korean Living Standards under Japanese Colonial Rule: A Critical Review of the Longitudinal Trajectory of Stature. The Review of Korean Studies, 20(2), 145-174, https://doi.org/10.25024/review.2017.20.2.006

copy

Abstract

Stature has been a widely used measure in the recent debate on Korean living standards under Japanese colonial rule. Past studies tended to focus on presenting novel data or calculation methods and insufficiently accounted for the divergence of arguments in the literature. This paper attempts the task of critically reviewing past research on Korean height during the colonial period and suggesting a reasonable interpretation with regard to living standards. A careful review supports the previously influential claim that average height decreased from the birth cohorts of the 1920s until around 1950. Other indicators of living standards closely related to the biological living standards of the general populace such as unskilled wage, food consumption, and inequality are consistent with height trends from the 1920s onwards, lending plausibility to the traditionally prevalent thesis that Koreans experienced a decrease in living standards as the colonial economic system took root in earnest. Recent revisionist claims that the colonial period was a boon for Korean well-being must be reconsidered.

keywords: economic history, living standards, stature, anthropometrics, Korea, Japanese colonialism

Reference

Bank of Korea. 1949. Gyeongje yeongam [Economic Yearbook]. Seoul: Joseon eunhaeng josabu.

Campos, Jose E., and Hilton L. Root. 2001. The Key to the Asian Miracle: Making Shared Growth Credible. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press.

Cha, Nam Hee. 1997. Jeohang gwa suneung ui yeoksa jeongchihak [Historical Politics of Resistance and Conformity]. Seoul: Ewha Womans University Press.

Chandler, P. J., and R. D. Bock. 1991. “Age Changes in Adult Stature: Trends Estimation from Mixed Longitudinal Data.” Annals of Human Biology 18 (5): 433-40.

Choi, In-Hwa, and Jong Choon Woo. 2007. “Developmental Process of Forest Policy Direction in Korea and Present Status of Forest Desolation in North Korea.” Journal of Forest Science 23 (1): 35-49.

Choi, Seong-Jin. 2006. “Sikminjigi sinjangbyeonhwa wa saenghwalsujun” [Height Change and Living Standards during the Colonial Period]. Gyeongjesahak [Review of Economic History] 40: 57-82.

Choi, Seong-Jin, and Daniel Schwekendiek. 2009. “The Biological Standard of Living in Colonial Korea, 1910-1945.” Economics and Human Biology 7: 259-64.

Cline, Martha G., Keith E. Meredith, John T. Boyer, and Benjamin Burrows. 1989. “Decline in Height with Age in Adults in a General Population Sample: Estimating Maximum Height and Distinguishing Birth Cohort Effects from Actual Loss of Stature with Aging.” Human Biology 61 (3): 415-25.

Gill, Insong. 1995. “Hangugin ui sinjangbyeonhwa wa saenghwalsujun: sikminjigi reul jungsim euro” [Korean Height Change and Living Standards: Focus on the Colonial Period]. In Je 38hoe jeonguk yeoksahak daehoe [38th National History Congress], edited by Jeonguk yeoksahak daehoe junbi wiwonhoe, 314-36. Seoul: Jeonguk yeoksahak daehoe junbi wiwonhoe.

10.

Gill, Insong. 1998. “Stature, Consumption, and the Standard of Living in Colonial Korea.” In The Biological Standard of Living in Comparative Perspective, edited by John Komlos and Jörg Baten, 122-38. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.

11.

Gill, Insong. 2000. “Iljeha gyecheung guseong gwa sodeukbunbae e gwanhan sogo” [Treatise on Class Composition and Income Distribution under Colonial Rule]. Seogang gyeongje nonjip [Sokang Economic Papers] 29 (2): 255-78.

12.

Governor-General of Korea. 1944. Jinkō sō chōsa [General Population Survey]. Seoul: Governor-General of Korea.

13.

Grajdanzev, Andrew J. 1944. Modern Korea: Her Economic and Social Development under the Japanese. New York: Institute of Pacific Relations.

14.

Hisama, Kenichi. 1944. Chōsen nōsei no kadai [Problems of Korean Agriculture]. Tokyo: Seibidō.

15.

Huh, Soo Youl. 1981. “Iljeha siljirimgeum byeondong chugye” [Estimates of Real Wages under Japanese Colonial Rule]. Gyeongjesahak 5: 213-46.

16.

Huh, Soo Youl. (2005) 2011a. Gaebal eopsneun gaebal [Development without Development]. Seoul: Eunhaengnamu.

17.

Huh, Soo Youl. 2011b. Iljechogi Joseon ui nongeop [Korean Agriculture in the Early Colonial Period]. Paju: Hangilsa.

18.

Huh, Soo Youl. 2015a. “Sikminji geundaehwa nonui juyo jujang ui siljeungjeok geomto” [An Empirical Examination of the Major Arguments in the Colonial Modernization Theory]. Naeireul yeoneun yeoksa 59: 103-28.

19.

Huh, Soo Youl. 2015b. “Sikminjigi joseonin 1indang sodeuk gwa sobi e gwanhan nonui ui geomto” [Critical Review of the Theory of Colonial Modernity]. Dongbuga yeoksa nonchong 50: 85-119.

20.

Joo, Ikjong. 2006. “Sikminsigi joseonin ui saenghwalsujun—nonjaeng ui jaegeomto” [Korean Living Standards in the Colonial Period—A Reevaluation of the Debate]. In Saeroun Hanguk gyeongje baljeonsa [New History of Korean Economic Development], edited by Dae-keun Lee, 317-48. Paju: Nanan chulpan.

21.

Joo, Ikjong. 2012. “Private Consumption and Expenditure.” In Hanguk ui janggitonggye: gukmingyejeong 1910-2011 [Long-term Statistics of Korea: National Accounts 1911-2010], edited by Nak Nyeon Kim, 193-213. Seoul: Seoul National University Press.

22.

Jun, Seong Ho, and James Lewis. 2007. “Wages, Rents, and Interest Rates in Southern Korea, 1700 to 1900.” Research in Economic History 24 (1): 217- 83.

23.

Kim, Duol, and Heejin Park. 2011. “Measuring Living Standards from the Lowest: Height of the Male Hangryu Deceased in Colonial Korea.” Explorations in Economic History 48: 590-99.

24.

Kim, Duol, and Ki-Joo Park. 2012. “A Cliometric Revolution in the Economic History of Korea: A Critical Review.” Australian Economic History Review 52 (1): 85-95.

25.

Kim, Nak Nyeon, and Ki Joo Park. 2007. “Haebangjeonhu (1936-1956) Seoul ui mulga wa imgeum” [Price Level and Wage in Seoul before and after Liberation (1936-1956)]. Gyeongjesahak 42: 71-105.

26.

Komlos, John. 2012. “A Three-Decade ‘Kuhnian’ History of the Antebellum Puzzle: Explaining the Shrinking of the US Population at the Onset of Modern Economic Growth.” Accessed May 1, 2017. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/ abstract=2021060 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ ssrn.2021060.

27.

Korea Rural Economic Institute. 1988. Nongjeongsa gwangye jaryojip 8 [Sourcebook of Agricultural Affairs]. Seoul: Korea Rural Economic Institute.

28.

Lee, Woo Youn. 2000. “Nongeop imgeum ui chui: 1853-1910” [Trends in Agricultural Wages: 1853-1910]. Gyeongjesahak 29: 39-71.

29.

Lee, Woo Youn, and Myung Soo Cha. 2007. “Sikminji Joseon ui imgeum sujun gwa gujo” [Wage Level and Structure in Colonial Korea]. Gyeongjesahak 43: 41-66.

30.

Lee, Woo Youn, and Kyoung Eun Song. 2012. “Forestry and Fishery.” In Hanguk ui janggitonggye: gukmingyejeong 1910-2011 [Long-term Statistics of Korea: National Accounts 1911-2010], edited by Nak Nyeon Kim, 51- 70. Seoul: Seoul National University Press.

31.

Mizoguchi, Toshiyuki, and Mataji Umemura, eds. 1988. Kyū nihon shokuminchi keizai tōkei [Economic Statistics of Former Japanese Colonies: Estimates and Analyses]. Tokyo: Tōyō keizai shuppansha.

32.

Morgan, Stephen L. 2009. “Adjustment of Age-Related Height Shrinkage in Archival Data for Chinese: A Post HOC Longitudinal Survey.” Accessed May 1, 2017. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1524849 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1524849.

33.

Odaka, Kōnosuke. 1988. “Taiwan, chōsen no rōdō tōkei” [Labor statistics of Taiwan and Korea]. In Kyū nihon shokuminchi keizai tōkei, edited by Mizoguchi Toshiyuki and Umemura Mataji, 80-90. Tokyo: Tōyō keizai shuppansha.

34.

Park, Ki Joo. 2006. “Joseon hugi ui saenghwal sujun” [Living Standards of the Late Choson Dynasty]. In Saeroun Hanguk gyeongje baljeonsa [New History of Korean Economic Development], edited by Dae-keun Lee, 69- 104. Paju: Nanan chulpan.

35.

Perkins, Jessica M., S. V. Subramanian, George Davey Smith, and Emre Özaltin. 2016. “Adult Height, Nutrition, and Population Health.” Nutrition Reviews 74 (3): 149-65.

36.

Statistics Korea. Daehanminguk tonggye yeongam [South Korea Yearbook of Statistics]. Accessed May 1, 2017. Retrieved from http://kosis.kr/ statisticsList/statisticsList_01List. jsp?vwcd=MT_CHOSUN_TITLE& parmTabId=M_01_03_01.

37.

Statistics Korea. 1993. Tonggye ro bon gwangbok jeonhu ui gyeongje, sahoesang [Statistical Review of the Economy and Society before and after Independence]. Seoul: Statistics Korea.

38.

Steckel, Richard. 1983. “Height and Per Capita Income.” Historical Methods 16 (1): 1-7.

39.

Steckel, Richard. 1995. “Stature and the Standard of Living.” Journal of Economic Literature 33 (4): 1903-40.

40.

Suh, Sang Chul. 1978. Growth and Structural Changes in the Korean Economy, 1910-1940. London: Harvard University Press.

41.

Terasaki, Yasuhiro. 1988. “Taiwan, chosen no shōhi suijun” [Consumption Levels of Taiwan and Korea]. In Kyū nihon shokuminchi keizai tōkei, edited by Mizoguchi Toshiyuki and Umemura Mataji, 57-67. Tokyo: Tōyō keizai shuppansha.

42.

Victora, Cesar G., Linda Adair, Caroline Fall, Pedro C Hallal, Reynaldo Martorell, Linda Richter, and Harshpal Singh Sachdev. 2008. “Maternal and Child Undernutrition: Consequences for Adult Health and Human Captial.” Lancet 371 (9609): 340-57.

바로가기메뉴

Article Contents

Vol.20 No.2

Korean Living Standards under Japanese Colonial Rule: A Critical Review of the Longitudinal Trajectory of Stature

Abstract

Reference

The Review of Korean Studies