Changes in Regional Economic Resilience after the 2008 Global Economic Crisis: The Case of Korea

Abstract

This study investigated Korea’s regional economic resilience after the 2008 economic crisis and analyzed the spatial patterns therein from the perspective of evolution and engineering. We analyzed the employee statistics of 229 si-gun-gu (city-county-district) administrative units for the 2002–2016 period sourced from Business Census data using shift-share analysis, a panel data model, and exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA). According to the analysis, most regions showed resilience after the crisis, revealing various patterns within the economic regions. Regarding the capital area, there were more structural improvements in Gyeonggi-do than in Seoul. For other regions, there were also more structural improvements in and around metropolitan areas. When comparing the absolute levels of post-crisis employment, the capital area showed low employment resilience in the CBD, while areas where industries such as IT and finance were clustered showed great employment resilience. In addition, non-capital areas showed a significant recovery in the manufacturing areas. This means that regional inequalities in the process of responding to economic crises are likely to include both quantitative and qualitative aspects, and that policies that accompany more structural improvements should be implemented.