韓國農家所得의 相對的 落後要因 및 그 解決方向에 관한 硏究 = The Analysis of The Causes on Relative Poverty of Korean Farmers

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

No economist will oppose to the view that Korean economy has to be developed by an industrialization. Most economists agree on the argument that industrial development is the only wy to solve the economic problem such as low level of income, unemployment problems, and a short of aggregate supply to demand. For an industrialization many prevonditions have to be met, otherwise it will not be able to achieve within a short period of time. The one of the most important precondition for industrial development in an economy is to raise the income level of the farmers and/or te development of farming sector. The reasons are te high level of farmers income punchases the manufactured goods which are increased by an industrial development ; a plenty supply of food may prevent the economy from te inflantionary pressure which is likely to occur under the course of industiralization; many kinds of row materials which are used by the industry can be provided by a development of the farming sector.
However, the various and reliable statistics indicate that the income distribution of the farming secot is inferior to the other sectors. According to the statistics, the ratios of a farmer's income to that of other are 68, 64, 70, 79, 67 per cent in 1961-1965 respectively. Most farmers are hard to keep their subsistance though the average income per cent of the whole economy has been growing very rapidly since 1960. Korean farming, in terms of the kind of products and a means of production, has not developed. On the contrary, many new goods and services from the other industrial sector supply day after day. Those phenomena naturally raise the two questions : Whether the farming sector is inferior to the other sector? What causes play their role on farmer's inferior income?
This dissertation primarily intends to analyse the causes of inferiority in Korean farming and the ralative poverty on the farmer to income level of other sectors. The analysis is mainly carried by three dimensions: the production in farming, price mechanism of farming products and the effects of economic policy on the farming and farmer's income. The following conclusions and arguments are farming and farmer's income. The following conclusions and arguments are drawn by the analysis with the help of statistics and survey.
1. The Cause of Inferiority in the Rarming Production
A farming production, unlike a production of the other sector, requests a harmonic play of such factors as labour power, man-made capital, land in quantity and quality, and the other natural conditions. Without a harmony of the factors above mentioned, it may hardly be expected the good production in a farming . This peculiarity of a farming naturally involves the inferiority in it, because a harmony of all productive factors cannot be expected whenever and wherever it is requested. In Korean farming, in turn farmer's income is suppressed by the disharmony of above productive factors.
(i) The shortage of a farm land is cause of low level of productivity in the farming. The territory of the country is small. On top of it, around 0 oer cent of the territory is cultivated as the farm land by about 60 per cent of the total population. It is very natural tat this problem reflects on the productivity and farmer's income.
(ii) Seasonal flutuation derived from the weather is also a cause of th inferiority of th farming production and the famer's income. For the country lies in so called monsoon area, rice and barely are the main products in the farming. The rice and barely are mostly culivated for seven monthes from April to October. In the winter season the weater is so cold that no products can be cultivated. Although tis sort of fluctuation is also seen in other economiv activities such as constraction, transportation on a river, and some kinds of manufacturing industry, the degree of fluctuation is not so severe as the fluctuation in a farming production, and the span of time is not so long as in farming. In short, a seasonal fluctuation affects low productive on the farming.
(iii) Natural change like a flood, a typhon, a drought, an earthquake as such, affects on a farming as an inferiority in the farming production. The difference between the amount of products in a good harvest year and that of products in a famine year is around 30 per cent. This sort of natural change does notaffect on aneconomic activity in any other industry but in a farming.
Human resource is one of the most important economic factor in a production. In the farming sector, however, human resource is less productive in a sense of the quantity and the quality than that of urban. The problems related to human resource naturally reflects on the low level of the farmer's income through a low productivity in farming production. As to the human resource, following three points have to be pointed as the causes of low productivity.
(iv) The figures of comparision, in terms of the level of education, between the population of rural region and that of urban show the former is less educated than te latter. Most famers are not educated more than high school level. In spite of the fact that many countries in the country have agricultural high schools, the farming is not running by those graduares. It is needless to say that an education or trainning is the most effective method to promote the productivity; less educated people of the farming sector produce less than the well trained people the other industry do.
(v) Human resorce in the farming sector is more consumptive population structuve, in terms of age distirbution, than that of the urban. The ratio of population of age 15~50 to the total farming population is less than the population rate of the same years to the industrial population. In other words, te rate of unproductive population is higher in the rural region than in the urban.
(vi) There is a severe tendency of occupational change from the farming among the labour force of age 20~40. Relatively well educated young men are not attracted by a farming, because of heavy manual labour for a farming, of monotonous life in rural region, and/or their poverty. The tendency naturally leaves the rural region in freezing improvement of a production and blocking the farmer into traditional way of thinking and living; it in turn results a relative poverty of he farming sector to te other as G.Mydral pointed out by the word of backwash effect.
The causes of inferiority of farming sector may also be pointed out by the light of economic problems. Economic problems, of course, cannot be isolated from the many other factors like socio-plolitical factors, institutional problems,, and historical factors, etc. However, the main point is limited on pure economic problems in this part of the dissertation.
(vii) The law of diminishing return acts more clearly in the farming production than in the other one, and it obstructs increase of the farmer's income. This economic law is an unavoidable in all production at the condition of a given level of technology and a given facilities of the production : under the above conditions, the marginal products of capital and labour decrease as the input of captial and labour increase. In the non-farming sector, there is no external obstructs in a change of technology or facilities of the production. On the contrary, a farming production involves many difficulties in a change of technology and external obstructs in a change of facilities because, above all, the size of the farm land is given. Therefoer, the law of diminishing marginal return play a check role farmer's income increase.
(viii) The pressure of excess agrarian population cannot be neglected as a cause of inferior income distirbution to the other. According to the statistics, about 8 million laboures are engaged in the farming production, though the average size of farm land by the home is around 0.9 hectares. A third of them may cultivates the land without any difficulty if the labour hour for farming is equaly distributed in the year round as the other industries, because about 2,700 hours required for farming of 0.9 hectares. Eventhough the seasonal requirement for labor houres not even, a tird of 8 million of labour force in the farming sector are so-called disguised unemployment, because their margianl products are zero. And the same numbers are the being of seasonal unemployment, because seasonal fluctuation of demandfor labour is as severe as twice from April to October. A large number of these unemployees can exist by the family tie.
(ix) A small scale of farm land is a main reason of farme's poverty in Korea. The size of farm land is so small that the farming is not run by a capitalistic production. On top of it, capital(man-mad capital) intensive farming cannot be done because of the law of diminishing returns. This is also a cause of law productivity in korean farming.
2. The cause of Inferior Price Mechanism of the Farming Products.
The relative poverty of the farmer mainly comes from the inferior productivity or a lower level of price of farming productis than that of manufatured goods and services. The price mechanism of goods is no less important than a productivity for the increase of producer's income. Even though the products in terms of phusical unit increase, it cannot raise the producer's income if the prices of their products are law. This type of phenamena are seen in Korea at times. The word , "a fame's famine inthe midst of abundant harvest" indicates that there are some sorts of inferiority in price mechanism in th farming products. The inferiorities of price mechanism are found in three sides: inferiority in the determinants of price and a nature of products, inferiority of supply of products, that is, a sort of dumping by poverty, and an inconsistency or disorder, in a sense, of marketing process. in the first place, the causes of inferiority in determinants of price are pointed as follows.
(i) The famers in Korea are producters but not enterpreneurs. They have little knowledge on marketing for their products. On the top of it, the farming in its nature is the economic activity involving a severe competition among themselves for selling. Therefore, the market of the farming products is likely to be a buyer's market but not a seller's.
(ii) All farming products are organic substances, and a certain span of time is required in the production. In addition, the harvest seasons are not scattered equally all the year round; the products cannot be controlled at the process of production without the waste of capital input. These characters finaly bring the conpetition for selling among the farmers and make pressure on the price of their products.
(iii) The price of farming products is determined at a low level, in the case of excess supply, because of the inelastictiy of price and income for demand. Even when the farming products of the country are purchased by an industirialized country, the difficulties for exporting cannot be avoided with the problems of inelasticity for deman.
(iv) The farming products are usually not demanded by the people of the producing area while the manufactured goods and services are bought by bot producing area and unproducing area. Therefore, a large sum of costs for selling of the products is required and it makes the pressure on the famer's income.
The word, "a forced supply by the poverty" may be used to understand the supply of farming products in Korea. It means that the farmers cannot choice for a chance of good price nor a favorable market. The farmers have to sell their products even at a dumping price which is lower than the cost of production in the harvest season, because they are under the pressure of various payments such as tax, school fee, debts, etc. This phenomenon is the result of the peculaiaity of Korean farming, that is the farming production is not run by the way of capitalism while it is a chain of monetary economy. The dumping price of the farming products naturally reflects on th farmer's income distirbution, i.e. their relative poverty.
(v) The statistics indicates that more than 75 per cent of Korean farmers own the farm land less than one hectare. It means the most farmers little have surplus for selling if they consume thier products as much as they want, though they sell a large amount of products every year. In other words, their need of money is so eager and unvoidable that they must sell the products even at the low price. In short, the forced supply of products by a need of money may not offer the chances of good price for th seller.
(vi) The forced supply of farming products above mentioned is accelerated by a large number of the disguised unemployment which counts a tird of the farm labourers. They do not produce anthing while the ecpenditure fot their consumption is required. The forced supply of the farming products accelerates the pressure on low price through the excess supply of the products in the farmer's season. This means that tere is a sort of vicious circle of poverty in the farmer's income; A poverty of farmer sellers the products at a law price ; the lower price of products, the farmer's income; the farmer has to sell more products even at a lower price, as such.
(vii) Korean famers do not run farming along with te money making production while their consumption is met by the money expenditures except for food. The price of the farming products is determined at a lower level than that of manufactured goods or services because of varous inferiorities in price mechanism above mentioned. Accordingly, the gap between their money income and money expenditures is gradually enlarged, and the pressure of farmer's poverty becomes larger.
The many elements in a marketing of a farming products or in a circulating process are not favorable to the farming or the farmer's income. These elements are mainly caused by the phisical nature of the products.
(viii) Korean farmers as the farmers of other Asian underdeveloped countries sell a part of their products at a very low level fo price before the harvest season. This phenomenon is a sort of explotation by a usury, and it is one of the causes that make the farmer poor.
(ix) In the farming products, the producing area may not be a demanding area in most cases. The products are usually sold at an urban. Therefore, the cost of marketing of the products is relatively higher than the products of the secondary industry. The cost of marketing uis ultimately paid by th farmer's income but not by the consumer's.
(x) The price of products of the manufactured good or services is high at the rural area because various costs in a marketing are added,which are paid by the farmer's income. In short, the farmers sells their products at a low price while they must purchase urban commodities at a high level of price.
3. The effects of economic policy on the income distirbution of th farming sector.
As above noted, there are many inferior factors in the farming sector to the other. An economic policy of the country should aim to prvent the farming and its income distirbution from the inferiority involved in it. The reason is that the balance of income distirbution in the economic sectors is the first target of income distribtion policy, and it is right way from the view point of social justice.
In point of fact, the various economic policies in korea have negleted to raise te farmer's income and to check the inferiority of farming. An industrialization of the country comes to the first in the economic policy; an economic policy on the farming sector is cunted the second target from the view point of the national economy. Therefore, the government has not had a policy to make a balance between income level of the farming sector and that of others; there is no sign that the gap of income levels become smaller. The farmer's income has rather had a pressure by such policies as the policy on rice price, the policy of taxation ot government expenditures, and financial policy for industiralization. The analysis of the price on rice has reached the following conclusions.
(i) In Korea, the government has collectd a large amount of farming products every year since 1932 at the low price by the force. Because the purpose of the collection of rice and barely is mainly to check the causes of inflation which is likely to be occured in the process of an industiralization or a cheap living cost for a low level of wages, the production. Therefore, the low that the price hardly compenstaes the cost production.Therefore, the low level of government price is the for eploitation to the farmer's income.
(ii) The low level of the government price of rice and barely affets on a market price in the way that the former pull the latter down.
In the financial policy, the farming sector has had the worst treatment compared with te secondary and tertiary industry. For example, the rate of loans to farming sector by the institutional finance is 25.3 per cent of total loans, though the rate of the farming products to the gross national product is 39.9 per cent; the rate of loans to the secondary industry is 49.1 per cent, even though it produces only 19.5 per cent of total outputs; the loans to the tertiary is 23.7 per cent of the total loans though the industry contributes 39.6 per cent forthe G.N.P. It does not mean that the demand for loans is the least in the farming sector. In fact, the demand for the institutional loans in the farming sector is rather needful because the farmers are the poorest consumer and producer. However, an industrializatin policy treats the secondary industry as the most favorable industry, in turn the poverty of th farming sector is made deeply by the lack of the finances as following reasons.
(iii) The demand for a finance of the farmers for an improvement of the farming equipments or an expenditures for consumption is partly met by the loans of institutional finance but motsly met by the loans of usury. The rate of interest is so high that an improvement of production hadrly can be expected by the loans of usury. The farmers have to be frozen in the traditional way of production. In te case of unavoidable expenditures, the farmers usually sell their products before the harvest season at the discount price of a high interest rate. This interest makes the farmers poor.
(iv) There are many difficulties in finance for the farming sectorn compared with the other sector. The first of all sector involves the weak points in four C: character of a borrower, capacity of payment, capital power in production, and collateral for loans. In addition, a long term loan rather than production, and collateral for loans. In addition, a along term loan rather than a short term is required for an improvement of the farming.
(v) The institutional finance does not account of the difficulties above mentied. The long term loans are made by a cooperative unit a village but not by individual. Therefore, a loan by the institutional finance is, in terms of amount, so small that is usally used for consumption but not for the production.
(vi) It is also an inferiority of farming sector that the capital market like a stock market cannot be developed in a rural region.
The policy of tazation and governement expenditures has not had a signs for making balance of income level ineach economic sectors. But there is a trial for an increase of food like rice and barely. An increase of products cannot bring an income increase of farmers with the low level of its price. In this part two points have to be pointed as the policy of taxation makes the farmer poor.
(vii) The farmer's disposable income is pulled down by the taxation in kind which is tax of a feudalistic society. For example, the land income tax is paid by price and barely. In tis case, the price is lower by the government than a market price. It results tha te farmes disposable income is pulled down as much as the difference between the government price and a market price.
(viii) The land income tax is a sort of income tax. Therefore, the tax should be levied by an individual who is engaged in the farming. If the tax were levied by an individual, the most farmers would be free from the taxation. Because about 75 per cent of farmers earn less then 5,000 Won in a month which is income level of exemption from taxation. In fact, however, the tax is imposed on a farming family; it does not take account of umbers who engaged in farming. The result of this the farmers are levied heavy tax compared with the tax on income other economic sectors.
In the last, the way for increase of farmer's income and farming reformation is suggested. It is argued that the problems of farming and farmer's income may not be solved within the farming sector alone. Because the most difficult problem in the farming sector, a large number of unemployees cannot be solved within it. The unemployees have to be absorbed by the employment in the secondary industry. Therefore, he cooperative farming or a large scale farming which is argued as a way for solving the farming problems recently is rejected; but the development of the secondary industry is the only way to solve the problems.
However, there are two types of industrialization, that is, one is the industrializationfor exporting and the other is for domestic market. The former, which for exporting and the other is for domestic market. The former, which Korean economic authority mainly aims at, may not solve the problems of the farming sector , though it may absorb the unemployees. Because the increase of food products may be encouraged by a policy but the low price may be supported in order to keep the low level of wage for rasing an exporting power. Result of tese policy, the farmer's income may not be risen nor traditional food rasing farming cannot be changed.
This dissertation argues that the problems must be solved by a development of manufacturing industry for domestic market, especially the manufacturing plants should be built in the rural regions. Then employment effect may occur in the rural area; a price of farming products need not be low; the main products of farming may change from rice barely to the row materials for manufacturing.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• Ⅰ. 序 論
• Ⅱ. 生産面에 나타난 農家所得의 落後城
• Ⅲ. 交煥面에 나타난 農家所得의 壓迫
• Ⅳ. 農家所得에 壓力作用하는 經濟政策
• Ⅴ. 農家所得向上에 관한 理論 및 政策方向
• 參 考 文 獻
• 論旨要約(英文)