ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book reviews the Korean national economy with an emphasis on trade promotion strategy and its effects on foreign trade, the role of the public sector in the process of economic development, and the newly adopted economic policies of privatisation and deregulation. It discusses the importance of Korean ports to the national economy and discusses increasing container traffic due to the trade-oriented development policy, port and terminal congestion as a result of the aforementioned policy, and new port and terminal development plans. The book aims to access the economic theories and empirical evidence relating to privatisation. It also reviews of the basic concepts related to production functions and economic efficiency. The book provides application of two types of frontier model, the cross-sectional and panel models, for the empirical analysis.
