# How South Korea Got So Crazy Rich

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUj0KWgo3II
Translation: zh-CN

[00:00] South Korea is a glittering gleaming country with futuristic looking cities, companies, and culture, but not many people alive today remember that until just recently South Korea used to be a country in abject poverty.
  韩国是一个闪闪发光的国家，拥有未来感十足的城市、企业和文化，但如今在世的人中，没有多少人记得直到不久前，韩国还是一个极度贫困的国家。

[00:17] In the 1960s, South Korea was poorer than most African countries, Yemen, and even Haiti.
  在20世纪60年代，韩国比大多数非洲国家、也门甚至海地还要贫穷。

[00:26] They lacked almost everything a rich country needs.
  他们几乎缺乏一个富裕国家所需的一切。

[00:29] They had no natural resources.
  他们没有自然资源。

[00:32] They were isolated and far from most other developed countries.
  他们与世隔绝，远离大多数其他发达国家。

[00:37] And all of their infrastructure was completely destroyed by the Korean War.
  而且他们所有的基础设施都被朝鲜战争彻底摧毁了。

[00:43] Despite this, from 1960 until the turn of the millennium, South Korea grew its economy tenfold.
  尽管如此，从1960年到世纪之交，韩国的经济增长了十倍。

[00:51] That's the third fastest in the entire world during this period.
  这是这一时期全世界第三快的增长速度。

[00:54] And in less than one lifetime, they moved from complete poverty to achieving one.
  在不到一代人的时间里，他们从完全贫困走向了实现一个目标。

[01:02] Of the highest levels of prosperity possible, how is it that a country with so few advantages could overcome the odds and achieve this?
  在可能达到的最高繁荣水平上，一个优势如此之少的国家如何能够克服困难并实现这一目标？

[01:14] Well, some of the techniques they used were unique and really surprise me, but I think it's an important case study because the Korean experience holds out hope for other developing countries that economic development, once touched off, could be a quick process requiring no more than a couple of decades.
  嗯，他们使用的一些技术很独特，确实让我惊讶，但我认为这是一个重要的案例研究，因为韩国的经验为其他发展中国家带来了希望：经济发展一旦启动，可能是一个快速的过程，只需要几十年。

[01:31] From 1950 to 1953, communism and capitalism battled it out on the Korean Peninsula.
  从1950年到1953年，共产主义和资本主义在朝鲜半岛上展开了较量。

[01:38] When the Korean War ended, the country was split into North and South.
  朝鲜战争结束时，这个国家被分裂成北朝鲜和南朝鲜。

[01:43] South Korea was left in ruins, and its economy was based on subsistence agriculture.
  韩国沦为废墟，其经济以自给农业为基础。

[01:49] I remember what it was like growing up in Korea in the 1950s and 60s.
  我记得20世纪50年代和60年代在韩国长大的情景。

[01:55] Food was sometimes scarce in the springtime, after the autumn harvest had been eaten and before new crops could be.
  在春天，秋收的粮食吃完之后、新作物收获之前，食物有时很匮乏。

[02:02] Gathered poor people would scour the hills for edible herbs and plants just as they do in North Korea today.
  聚集的穷人会在山上搜寻可食用的草药和植物，就像今天朝鲜所做的那样。

[02:10] The government tried to promote import substitution, that is, focusing on replacing the stuff that Korea imported with stuff that they made themselves.
  政府试图推行进口替代，即专注于用自己制造的东西取代韩国进口的东西。

[02:20] Growth from this was pretty weak and things didn't improve very quickly.
  由此带来的增长相当疲弱，情况没有很快改善。

[02:25] That is until May 1961, when the military led by the controversial General Park Chung-hee carried out a coup and overthrew the government.
  直到1961年5月，由争议人物朴正熙将军领导的军方发动政变，推翻了政府。

[02:33] Korea's fortunes were about to turn around after this decade of weak growth.
  在经历了这十年的疲弱增长后，韩国的命运即将扭转。

[02:37] The new government aggressively drafted 5-year plans, not unlike many Communist states, especially those of their northern neighbor.
  新政府积极起草五年计划，这与许多共产主义国家，尤其是其北方邻国的做法并无不同。

[02:44] These 5-year plans focused specifically on one major thing: export.
  这些五年计划特别专注于一件大事：出口。

[02:52] Korea had one advantage: a large and concentrated labor force.
  韩国有一个优势：庞大且集中的劳动力。

[02:58] How could Korea find an effective...
  韩国如何找到一种有效的……

[03:03] Way to import materials, use their cheap labor to manufacture goods, and then sell them to the outside world.
  进口材料的方式，利用廉价劳动力制造商品，然后销往外部世界。

[03:09] Looking over at their very successful neighbor Japan, Korea got inspired as they could use it as a kind of blueprint.
  看着他们非常成功的邻国日本，韩国受到了启发，因为他们可以将其作为一种蓝图。

[03:14] And the government saw an opportunity to rapidly industrialize in the exact same way.
  政府看到了以完全相同的方式快速工业化的机会。

[03:21] Just a few years behind, they started with the easy stuff.
  仅仅落后几年，他们从简单的事情开始。

[03:27] Goods that didn't require massive investments of capital, huge amounts of skills or knowledge to produce.
  那些不需要大量资本投资、大量技能或知识就能生产的商品。

[03:33] Stuff like making textiles and plywood, things where individual entrepreneurs could set up businesses and start getting people to work.
  比如制造纺织品和胶合板，这些是个人企业家可以创办企业并开始让人们工作的事情。

[03:40] South Korea's cheap labor gave it a comparative advantage.
  韩国的廉价劳动力赋予了它比较优势。

[03:44] It could import capital-intensive goods and then export labor-intensive goods.
  它可以进口资本密集型商品，然后出口劳动密集型商品。

[03:49] The sudden availability of better paid jobs in the cities kickstarted the mass migration of people from the countryside to Seoul, Busan, and Daegu.
  城市中突然出现的高薪工作引发了人们从农村到首尔、釜山和大邱的大规模迁移。

[03:58] They left behind their agricultural tools and informal businesses to work in.
  他们留下了农业工具和非正规企业去工作。

[04:04] The burgeoning manufacturing sector.
  蓬勃发展的制造业部门。

[04:07] The nation combined these policies with tariffs on virtually every item except for raw input materials like wood and cotton.
  该国将这些政策与对几乎所有物品征收的关税相结合，但木材和棉花等原材料除外。

[04:12] Most imported goods would remain expensive, but the actual building blocks for a long-term sustainable economy were allowed to freely flow.
  大多数进口商品仍将昂贵，但长期可持续经济的实际基础要素被允许自由流动。

[04:25] So this was a great success.
  因此，这是一个巨大的成功。

[04:27] The economy began industrializing with cheap labor and material, Cal's driving demand for Korean products in places as far as the United States.
  经济开始以廉价劳动力和材料实现工业化，卡尔推动了远至美国等地的韩国产品需求。

[04:33] And people's lives began to improve.
  人们的生活开始改善。

[04:35] But as things got better through the 60s and light industries popped up all over the place, they began to reach their maximum capacities.
  但随着60年代情况好转，轻工业遍地开花，它们开始达到最大产能。

[04:43] The government also recognized this.
  政府也意识到了这一点。

[04:45] So during this time they invested in infrastructure to reduce production costs: roads, bridges, ports, power plants — stuff that was meant to allow businesses to flourish and reduce input costs.
  因此，在此期间，他们投资于基础设施以降低生产成本：道路、桥梁、港口、发电厂——这些旨在让企业蓬勃发展并降低投入成本。

[04:57] Put it this way: it's a lot easier to do business if you have easy access to electricity for your machines and like roads to transport materials.
  这样说吧：如果你能方便地获得机器用电以及运输材料的道路，做生意就容易得多。

[05:06] Ports to send them to the outside world
  港口将它们送往外部世界

[05:08] Etc with better infrastructure and increasingly urbanized people the government could then more easily invest in education especially primary education to create a more skilled workforce
  凭借更好的基础设施和日益城市化的人口，政府随后可以更容易地投资于教育，尤其是初等教育，以培养更熟练的劳动力。

[05:21] And they could also now lever up into heavy industry steel petrochemicals oil refineries
  他们现在还可以杠杆进入重工业、钢铁、石化和炼油厂。

[05:27] They knew that individual entrepreneurs would never never take the risk of trying to start and fund these heavy industries
  他们知道个体企业家永远不会冒险尝试创办和资助这些重工业。

[05:35] A $2 million textile warehouse is a different proposition from a $2 billion steel mill
  一个200万美元的纺织仓库与一个20亿美元的钢铁厂是截然不同的事情。

[05:41] So instead the government themselves took on the risk of financing it
  因此，政府自己承担了融资的风险。

[05:46] From 1962 until 1979 GNP rose at an average annual rate of over 9% and exports grew more than 33% every year
  从1962年到1979年，国民生产总值年均增长率超过9%，出口每年增长超过33%。

[05:57] I mean imagine that that's like when a country with oil reserves turns on the taps for the first time and starts pumping oil except in Korea's case it was all humans turning raw material into finished goods
  我的意思是，想象一下，这就像一个拥有石油储备的国家第一次打开水龙头开始抽油，但在韩国的情况下，完全是人类将原材料转化为成品。

[06:08] Selling it abroad, the government did everything in its power to ensure that exports remained competitive worldwide.
  在海外销售时，政府竭尽全力确保出口在全球保持竞争力。

[06:16] If Korean products were too expensive in other countries, they would devalue their currency and make them cheaper.
  如果韩国产品在其他国家过于昂贵，他们就会贬值本国货币，使其更便宜。

[06:24] If people tried to import products into Korea that directly competed with the ones Korea made, the government would restrict it.
  如果有人试图向韩国进口与韩国制造产品直接竞争的商品，政府就会加以限制。

[06:32] If export businesses were unprofitable but could be profitable if they were a bit bigger and captured a larger share of the world market, the government would subsidize them.
  如果出口企业不盈利，但规模稍大、占据更大全球市场份额后可能盈利，政府就会补贴它们。

[06:41] The defining feature of this new economic model became the chaebol.
  这种新经济模式的标志性特征就是财阀。

[06:46] The word chaebol literally means "rich family" in Korean, and they're like corporations on steroids.
  “财阀”一词在韩语中字面意思是“富裕家族”，它们就像打了激素的企业。

[06:53] These days, they're household names across the world: Samsung, LG, Hyundai, Daewoo.
  如今，它们在全球家喻户晓：三星、LG、现代、大宇。

[07:01] Government policy was to actively discriminate against smaller firms in favor of the increasingly massive chaebol conglomerates, as it was much easier to.
  政府政策是积极歧视小企业，偏袒日益庞大的财阀集团，因为这样做容易得多。

[07:08] Centrally support a small handful of competing firms than it was hundreds or thousands.
  集中支持少数几家竞争企业，而不是数百或数千家。

[07:14] This wasn't exactly free trade as we know it in the west, but it was certainly effective.
  这并非西方所熟知的自由贸易，但确实有效。

[07:18] They created a kind of mutually beneficial feedback loop between the two.
  他们在两者之间创造了一种互利的反馈循环。

[07:22] If the chaebols encountered problems, then the government would step in and solve them, but only if it meant boosting exports and competitiveness.
  如果财阀遇到问题，政府就会介入解决，但前提是这能提升出口和竞争力。

[07:34] Once the government decided to invest in an industry, it was all guns blazing.
  一旦政府决定投资某个行业，就会全力以赴。

[07:37] The list was endless on the amount of stuff that they would do to support it, but they were always full-on.
  他们为支持该行业所做的事情不胜枚举，但始终全力以赴。

[07:43] One of Korea's most impressive achievements was how they managed to fund everything with limited capital.
  韩国最令人瞩目的成就之一，是他们如何用有限的资本为一切提供资金。

[07:50] The government made sure to feed the chaebols a healthy diet of cheap low-interest loans.
  政府确保为财阀提供大量廉价低息贷款。

[07:56] Interest rates in Korea were raised really high to encourage average Korean people to save their money in the bank.
  韩国的利率被提得很高，以鼓励普通民众将钱存入银行。

[08:02] The government would turn around and use that cheap capital to make sure that the chaebols had everything they needed to become some of the most competitive firms in the world.
  政府转而利用这些廉价资本，确保财阀拥有成为全球最具竞争力企业所需的一切。

[08:10] The world's most powerful and competitive firms.
  世界上最强大且最具竞争力的公司。

[08:11] Korea exported $55 million of goods in 1962.
  韩国在1962年出口了5500万美元的商品。

[08:18] By 1982, it had grown to $27 billion.
  到1982年，这一数字增长到了270亿美元。

[08:25] Despite all of this impressive progress, by 1980 South Korea still only had the 65th highest GDP per capita in the world.
  尽管取得了所有这些令人瞩目的进展，到1980年，韩国的人均GDP仍仅排在世界第65位。

[08:33] It was still behind countries like Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, and Jordan.
  它仍然落后于科特迪瓦、厄瓜多尔和约旦等国家。

[08:38] How did they continue the growth and the good times?
  他们是如何继续实现增长和繁荣的？

[08:43] Ah yes, exactly that, that is an important term: vertical integration.
  啊，是的，正是如此，这是一个重要的术语：垂直整合。

[08:49] This was about to become the name of the game for Korean chaebol conglomerates.
  这即将成为韩国财阀集团的关键策略。

[08:51] Vertical integration is when a company directly controls multiple steps in its production and distribution process, instead of relying on other businesses for supplies and manufacturing and selling.
  垂直整合是指公司直接控制其生产和分销过程中的多个环节，而不是依赖其他企业进行供应、制造和销售。

[09:04] For example, LG made consumer electronics in the '60s, then in the '70s they became a...
  例如，LG在60年代制造消费电子产品，然后在70年代他们成为了一个……

[09:12] Petrochemical company too which meant that they could make their own plastic for their own Electronics.
  也是一家石化公司，这意味着他们可以为自己生产的电子产品制造自己的塑料。

[09:17] Then in the '80s they began making semiconductors to put in their electronics.
  然后在80年代，他们开始制造用于自己电子产品的半导体。

[09:22] And then in the '90s they started doing mobile phones.
  接着在90年代，他们开始涉足手机业务。

[09:24] This means that LG is making profit and cutting costs at every stage of the production chain, cutting out all of the middlemen.
  这意味着LG在生产链的每个环节都在盈利并削减成本，省去了所有中间商。

[09:33] Korea was becoming wealthy in less than a generation.
  韩国在不到一代人的时间里变得富裕。

[09:34] And the economy was getting way too complex for the government to manage so centrally with 5-year plans.
  经济变得过于复杂，政府无法再通过五年计划进行如此集中的管理。

[09:39] They increasingly decided to take more of a backseat role during the 80s, easing restrictions on imports and foreign investment to encourage competition and to let the chaebols more or less do their own thing.
  他们在80年代越来越倾向于退居幕后，放宽对进口和外国投资的限制，以鼓励竞争，并让财阀们基本上自行其是。

[09:53] Success from Korea's growing exports stimulated domestic innovation.
  韩国不断增长的出口成功刺激了国内创新。

[09:58] Young Koreans were hungry and willing to learn whatever they could to rise through the ranks and break into the rapidly growing industries.
  年轻的韩国人求知若渴，愿意学习一切能让他们晋升并进入快速发展的行业的知识。

[10:03] The best way to do that is to have a strong understanding of technology, engineering, electronics, etc.
  做到这一点的最佳途径是深入了解技术、工程、电子等领域。

[10:08] And education was...
  而教育是……

[10:12] Heavily emphasized talented Korean students would head all over the world to the world's best universities to learn the skills they needed to take back to Korea.
  大力强调有才华的韩国学生会前往世界各地最好的大学学习他们需要带回韩国的技能。

[10:21] And succeed the share of employees with a high school education or beyond in the machinery sector rose from 17.7% in 1967 to almost 60% in 1984.
  并且，在机械行业，拥有高中及以上学历的员工比例从1967年的17.7%上升到1984年的近60%。

[10:33] There was nothing particularly educated about Korean people in the '50s.
  在50年代，韩国人并没有什么特别受过教育的地方。

[10:39] In fact, if you look up on Quora why South Korea got rich, some people try to claim things like a strong national work ethic or Koreans' enthusiasm for education are the reasons for Korean success.
  事实上，如果你在Quora上查找韩国为何变富，有些人会试图声称诸如强烈的国家职业道德或韩国人对教育的热情是韩国成功的原因。

[10:52] But according to UNESCO data at the time, Korean literacy was only slightly better than India and way worse than all countries in South America and Central America.
  但根据当时的联合国教科文组织数据，韩国的识字率仅略高于印度，远低于南美洲和中美洲的所有国家。

[11:02] Korea needed to have an economy to be able to afford education.
  韩国需要拥有经济才能负担得起教育。

[11:07] Coincidentally, as I'm finishing this video today on October 14th, 2024, the Nobel Prize in Economics was just awarded to these.
  巧合的是，就在我今天（2024年10月14日）完成这个视频时，诺贝尔经济学奖刚刚颁给了这些人。

[11:14] Three guys for their research into why some countries are rich and some are poor.
  三人因研究为何有些国家富裕而有些国家贫穷而获奖。

[11:18] And long story short, their research points back to one major causal factor: the quality of economic and political institutions, like a strong government, courts to settle disputes, and later in Korea's case, chaebols.
  长话短说，他们的研究指向一个主要因果因素：经济和政治制度的质量，比如强大的政府、解决争端的法院，以及在韩国案例中的财阀。

[11:33] If you want to see a video breaking down the 2024 Nobel Prize research concisely, let us know in the comments.
  如果你想看一个简洁解析2024年诺贝尔奖研究的视频，请在评论中告诉我们。

[11:40] Remember how Korea looked to Japan earlier for inspiration on manufacturing and heavy industries?
  还记得韩国早期如何向日本寻求制造业和重工业的灵感吗？

[11:45] Well, Japan was also starting to begin its Space Age arc in the 1980s, and Korea would also soon follow suit.
  嗯，日本也在20世纪80年代开始进入太空时代，韩国很快也效仿了。

[11:53] South Korea became a world leader in automobile manufacturing, consumer electronics, shipbuilding, and advanced petrochemicals.
  韩国成为汽车制造、消费电子、造船和先进石化领域的全球领导者。

[12:03] It became very common to have large panels of government officials mixed with academics and business leaders who would hold meetings about the planning of the Korean economy, what industries were good to develop: bioengineering, robotics, fine chemicals.
  由政府官员、学者和商界领袖组成的大型小组非常常见，他们会开会讨论韩国经济的规划，哪些行业适合发展：生物工程、机器人、精细化工。

[12:15] Aerospace defense when the cheles became massive
  航空航天防御，当这些企业变得庞大时

[12:20] Global industrial Giants they began to innovate and produce advanced technology
  全球工业巨头开始创新并生产先进技术。

[12:25] Management of the economy then got a lot less existential and a lot more focused on sustainable growth and internal reform for example solving corruption problems and making sure chbl weren't overleveraged
  经济管理随后变得不那么关乎生存，而更专注于可持续增长和内部改革，例如解决腐败问题，并确保企业不过度杠杆化。

[12:37] Overed Dau actually went bankrupt in the '90s because of this and Korea struggled a bit during the Asian financial crisis
  实际上，Overed Dau在90年代因此破产，韩国在亚洲金融危机期间也经历了一些困难。

[12:44] But ultimately they figured out how to come out and continue strong growth based on technology in the 2000s
  但最终他们找到了出路，并在2000年代基于技术实现了强劲增长。

[12:50] It was also helped on by an emergent and growing China who is now by far South Korea's largest trading partner
  这也得益于一个新兴且不断增长的中国，它现在是韩国最大的贸易伙伴。

[12:54] Korea is now at the top of the food chain it exports hundreds of billions of dollars of goods every year
  韩国现在处于食物链顶端，每年出口数千亿美元的商品。

[13:01] It spends almost 5% of its GDP on R&D to maintain this and it's achieved tremendous prosperity
  它将近5%的GDP用于研发以维持这一地位，并实现了巨大的繁荣。

[13:09] I hope if you enjoyed the video you could like or comment or subscribe or what have you it would be great for helping us with the algorithm
  我希望如果你喜欢这个视频，可以点赞、评论或订阅，或者其他什么，这对帮助我们应对算法会很有帮助。

[13:17] And maybe check out our other videos on Russia or Vietnam if you want similar insights.
  也许可以看看我们关于俄罗斯或越南的其他视频，如果你想要类似的见解。