Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-cphqk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-09T22:43:29.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Standards of Living in Colonial Korea: Did the Masses Become Worse Off or Better Off Under Japanese Rule?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Mitsuhiko Kimura
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article discusses the changing living standards among the Korean masses under Japanese rule. Farm income per household, agricultural real wages, and per capita calorie intake from staple foods declined. On the other hand primary school enrollment, literacy, and survival rates rose, and average stature at least did not decrease. Arguing that literacy rates, survival rates, and average stature are variables more directly related to living conditions than the others, this article concludes that the Korean masses' standards of living rose between colonization and 1940. Still, any summary assessment depends on the weights assigned to different variables.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , September 1993 , pp. 629 - 652
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anand, Sudhir, and Harris, Christopher, “Food and Standard of Living: An Analysis Based on Sri Lankan Data,” in Drèze, Jean and Sen, Amartya, eds., The Political Economy of Hunger: Entitlement and Well-being (Oxford, 1990), vol. 1, pp. 297–350.Google Scholar
Bae, Yonggi, “Gakurei-ki ni okeru Chosen Jido no Taii ni kansuru Kenkyu” (Study on Anthropometry of School-Age Children in Korea), Chosen Igakukai Zasshi, 29 (10 1939), pp. 47–81.Google Scholar
Ban, Sung Hwan, “Agricultural Growth in Korea, 1918–1971,” K, Appendix, in Hayami, Yujiro, Ruttan, Vernon, and Southworth, Herman M., eds., Agricultural Growth in Japan, Taiwan, Korea and the Philippines (Tokyo and Hawaii, 1979), pp. 90–116, 313–50.Google Scholar
Bekaert, Geert, “Caloric Consumption in Industrializing Belgium,” this Journal (09 1991), pp. 633–55.Google Scholar
Césaire, A., Discourse on Colonialism (New York and London, 1972).Google Scholar
Sotokufu, Chosen, Chosen Sotokufu Tokei Nempo 1910–1940 (Statistical Yearbook of the Government-General of Korea) (Seoul, 1912–1942).Google Scholar
Sotokufu, Chosen, Showa 5 nen Chosen Kokusei Chosa Hokoku (National Census of Korea in 1930) (Seoul, 1932–1935), vols. 1, 2.Google Scholar
Sotokufu, Chosen, Chosen Beikoku Yoran (Selected Statistics on Rice in Korea) (Seoul, 1935–1940).Google Scholar
Sotokufu, Chosen, Noka Keizai Chosa: Kosaku Noka, 1933, 1938 (Survey of Farm Household Economy: Tenant Farmers) (Seoul, 1940).Google Scholar
Sotokufu, Chosen, Noka Keizai Chosa: Jikosaku Noka, 1933, 1938 (Survey of Farm Household Economy: Owner-Tenant Farmers) (Seoul, 1940).Google Scholar
Sotokufu, Chosen, Nogyo Tokeihyo, 1940 (Statistics on Agriculture) (Seoul, 1941).Google Scholar
Fanon, Frantz, The Wretched of the Earth, trans, by Farrington, C. (London, 1965).Google Scholar
Fogel, Robert W. et al. , “Secular Changes in American and British Stature and Nutrition,” Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 14 (Autumn 1983), pp. 445–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fujii, Chuzaburo, “Musansha no Seikei Jittai” (Reality of the Poor's Livelihood), Chosen Shakai Jigyo, 5 (10 1927), pp. 2–17.Google Scholar
Toakyoku, Gaimusho, Manshukoku oyobi Chuka Minkoku Zairyu Hompojin oyobi Gaikokujin Jinko Tokeihyo, 28 (Statistics on the Japanese and Foreign Population in Manchuria and China) (Tokyo, 1936).Google Scholar
Hayami, Yujiro, “Elements of Induced Innovation: A Historical Perspective from the Green Revolution,” Explorations in Economic History, 8 (Summer 1971), pp. 445–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hishimoto, Choji, Chosen-mai no Kenkyu (Study on Korean Rice) (Tokyo, 1938).Google Scholar
Ho, Suyol, “Ilcheha Silchil Imgum (Pyondong) Ch'uigye” (Estimation of the Real Wage and Its Change Under Japanese Colonial Rule), Kyongje Sahak, 5 (12 1981), pp. 213–46.Google Scholar
Ishi, Yoshikuni, Kankoku no Jinko Zoka no Bunseki (An Analysis of Population Growth in Korea) (Tokyo, 1971).Google Scholar
Kajimura, Hideki, “1910 nen-dai Chosen no Keizai Junkan to Shokeiei” (Economic Structure and Household Economy of Peasants), in An, Pyongjik et al. , eds., Chosen Kindai no Keizai Kozo (Economic Structure in Modern Korea) (Tokyo, 1990), pp. 203–48.Google Scholar
Kakumoto, Denichi, and Kato, Seigo, “Chosen no Kochi Kakaku to sono Hensen ni tsuite” (Prices of Farmland and Their Changes in Korea), Shokugin Chosa Geppo, 6 (11 1938), pp. 1–46.Google Scholar
Kim, Ch'ol, Kankoku no Jinko to Keizai (Population and Economy in Korea) (Tokyo, 1965).Google Scholar
Kimura, Mitsuhiko, “Shokuminchi-ka Chosen no Boshoku Kogyo” (Spinning and Weaving in Colonial Korea), in Yasuba, Yasukichi and Saito, Osamu, eds., Puroto Kogyoka-ki no Keizai to Shakai (Economy and Society in the Protoindustrialization Period) (Tokyo, 1983), pp. 231–56.Google Scholar
Kimura, Mitsuhiko, “Shokuminchi-ka Chosen no Mensaku ni tsuite” (On Cotton Crop Cultivation in Colonial Korea), Azia Kenkyu, 30 (04 1983), pp. 54–79.Google Scholar
Kimura, Mitsuhiko, “Education and Its Socio-economic Backgrounds in Precolonial Korea: Sodang in Contrast with Terakoya in Japan” (Discussion Paper No. 8, Nagoya Gakuin University, 1986).Google Scholar
Kimura, Mitsuhiko, “Shokuminchi ni okeru Minzokukan Shotoku Bumpai no Suikei: Chosen, Taiwan, 1930” (Income Distribution Among Ethnic Groups in Korea and Taiwan in 1930) (Discussion Paper No. 13, Nagoya Gakuin University, 1989).Google Scholar
Kimura, Mitsuhiko, “Ethnic Income Distribution in Korea and Taiwan in the 1930s: An Unfavorable Change for Japanese Colonizers?” (Paper presented at the Second World Congress of Cliometrics, Santander, Spain, 06 26, 1989).Google Scholar
Kimura, Mitsuhiko, “Public Finance in Korea under Japanese Rule: Colonial Accounts and Colonial Taxation,” Explorations in Economic History, 26 (07 1989), pp. 285–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kimura, Mitsuhiko, “Diffusion of Primary Education in Korea 1911–1955,” in Tortella, Gabriel, ed., Education and Economic Development since the Industrial Revolution (Valencia, Spain, 1990), pp. 339–53.Google Scholar
Kimura, Mitsuhiko, “Shokuminchi-ki Chosen no Seikatsu Suijun no Henka: Shincho Deita wo megutte” (Changes in Living Standards in Colonial Korea: An Analysis Using Statistical Data on Stature), Osaka Economic Papers, 41 (12 1991), pp. 206–17.Google Scholar
Kwon, Tai Hwan, Lee, Hae Young, Chang, Yunshik, and Yu, Eui-young, The Population of Korea (Seoul, 1973).Google Scholar
McCloskey, Donald N., The Rhetoric of Economics (Madison, 1985).Google Scholar
Kokumuin, Manshukoku, Kotoku 7 nen Rinji Kokusei Chosa Hokoku (Ad Hoc National Census in 1940) (Shinkyo, Manchukuo, 1943), vol. 1.Google Scholar
Shikenjo, Minami Manshu Tetsudo Nogyo, Manshu no Awa (Millet in Manchuria) (Dairen, China, 1930).Google Scholar
Miyajima, Hiroshi, Chosen Tochi Chosa Jigyoshi no Kenkyu (Study on the History of Cadastral Survey in Korea) (Tokyo, 1991).Google Scholar
Mizoguchi, Toshiyuki, “Consumer Prices and Real Wages in Taiwan and Korea under Japanese Rule,” Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, 13 (01 1972), pp. 40–56.Google Scholar
Mizoguchi, Toshiyuki, Taiwan, Chosen no Keizai Seicho (Economic Growth in Taiwan and Korea) (Tokyo, 1975).Google Scholar
Mizoguchi, Toshiyuki, and Nojima, Noriyuki, Kyu-shokuminchi Keizai Tokei Data Base (Data Base for the Economy of the Former Japanese Colonies) (Tokyo, 1986).Google Scholar
Mizoguchi, Toshiyuki, and Umemura, Mataji, eds., Kyunihon Shokuminchi Keizai Tokei (Economic Statistics on Former Japanese Colonies) (Tokyo, 1988).Google Scholar
Mokyr, Joel, and Gráda, Cormac Ó, “Poor and Getting Poorer? Living Standards in Ireland before the Famine,” Economic History Review, 2nd series 51 (05 1988), pp. 209–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, M. D., Measuring the Conditions of the World's Poor: The Physical Quality of Life Index (Oxford, 1979).Google Scholar
Tokeikyoku, Naikaku, Showa 5 nen Kokusei Chosa Hokoku (National Census in 1930) (Tokyo, 1935), vol. 1.Google Scholar
Nakatani, Chuji, “Chosen no Juminshoku ni kansuru Jakkan no Kosatsu” (Some Studies on Korean Foods), Chosen Sotokufu Chosa Geppo, 13 (10 1942), pp. 1–18; 13 (11 1942), pp. 1–21.Google Scholar
Center, Norinsho Nettai Nogyo Kenkyu, Kyuchosen ni okeru Nihon no Nogyo Shiken Kenkyu no Seika (Results of Japanese Agricultural Research in Colonial Korea) (Tokyo, 1976).Google Scholar
Odaka, Konosuke, “Nihon Tochika ni okeru Chosen no Rodo Keizai” (Labor Economy in Korea under Japanese Rule), Keizai Kenkyu, 26 (04 1975), pp. 145–58.Google Scholar
Odaka, Konosuke, “Nihon Tochika ni okeru Taiwan, Chosen no Rodo Keizai” (Labor Economy in Taiwan and Korea Under Japanese Rule), in Mizoguchi, Toshiyuki and Umemura, Mataji, eds., Kyunihon Shokuminchi Keizai Tokei (Economic Statistics on Former Japanese Colonies) (Tokyo, 1988), pp. 80–90.Google Scholar
Othick, John, “Development Indicators and the Historical Study of Human Welfare: Towards a New Perspective,” this Journal, 43 (03 1983), pp. 63–70.Google Scholar
Sato, Gozo, “Chosen no Nomin no Shokumotsu ni tsuite no Shiken” (A View on Korean Farmers' Foods), Chosen Nokaiho, 11 (01 1937), pp. 5–12.Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya, The Standard of Living (Cambridge, 1985).Google Scholar
Sen, Amartya, Commodities and Capabilities (Amsterdam, 1988).Google Scholar
Soejima, Shoichi, “Senzenki Chugoku Zairyu Nihonjin Shokugyo-betsu Jinko Tokeihyo” (Statistics on the Japanese Population in Prewar China, Classified by Occupation), Wakayama Daigaku Kyoikugakubu Kiyo: Jimbun Kagaku, 34 (1985), pp. 1–63.Google Scholar
Tokeikyoku, Sorifu, Showa 15 nen Kokusei Chosa Hokoku (National Census in 1940) (Tokyo, 1961), vol. 1.Google Scholar
Suh, Sang-chul, Growth and Structural Changes in the Korean Economy, 1910–1940 (Cambridge, MA, 1978).Google Scholar
Takita, Shogo, “Chosen Densenbyo no Ekigakuteki Kosatsu” (Pathological Study on Korean Contagious Diseases), Gun'i-dan Zasshi, 224 (02 1932), pp. 295–306; 225 (03 1932), pp. 389–436; 226 (04 1932), pp. 552–82.Google Scholar
Terasaki, Yasuhiro, “Shokuminchi-jidai no Chosen ni okeru Kojin Shohi Shishutsu no Suikei 1913–1937” (Estimates on Private Consumption Expenditures in Colonial Korea, 1913–1937), Nagasaki Daigaku Kyoyo Gakubu Kiyo, 24 (01 1984), pp. 61–95.Google Scholar
Terasaki, Yasuhiro, “Taiwan, Chosen no Shohi Suijun” (The Consumption Level in Taiwan and Korea), in Mizoguchi, Toshiyuki and Umemura, Mataji, eds., Kyunihon Shokuminchi Keizai Tokei (Economic Statistics on Former Japanese Colonies) (Tokyo, 1988), pp. 57–67.Google Scholar
Tohata, Seiichi, and Ohkawa, Kazushi, Chosen Beikoku Keizairon (Rice Economy in Korea) (Tokyo, 1935).Google Scholar
Tohata, Seiichi, and Ohkawa, Kazushi, “Chosen Beikoku Keizairon” (rev. edn.) (Rice Economy in Korea), in Shinkokai, Nihon Gakujutsu, ed., Beikoku Keizai no Kenkyu (Studies in Rice Economy) (Tokyo, 1939), vol. 1, pp. 297–446.Google Scholar
UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), Human Development Report 1990 (New York, 1990).Google Scholar
Yi, Yun'gun, “Han'guk Kungmin Sodok Ch'uigye wa ku Naeyong” (Estimates on National Income in Korea), in Cho, Kijun et al. , eds., Ilcheha ui Minjok Saengh-wal-sa (History of Korean Life Under Japanese Rule) (Seoul, 1971), pp. 269–400.Google Scholar
Yu, Pongch'ol, “Ilcheha ui Kungmin Saenghwal Sujun” (The Living Standard Under Japanese Rule), in Cho, Kijun et al. , eds., Ilcheha ui Minjok Saenghwal-sa (History of Korean Life Under Japanese Rule) (Seoul, 1971), pp. 401–86.Google Scholar
Zensho, Eisuke, Chosen no Kosaku Kanshu (Land Lease Customs in Korea) (Seoul, 1929).Google Scholar