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JOH, SUNG WOOK

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JOH, SUNG WOOK

Professor of Corporate Finance, Corporate Governance, Industrial Organization

Professor Introduction

Professor Sung Wook Joh of Seoul National University (SNU) Business School graduated from SNU (BA, Economics) and Harvard University (PhD, Economics). Dr. Joh advised and evaluated government policies on chaebols and competition policy while working for the Korea Development Institute (KDI) during 1997-2003. After joining SNU, she served as a commissioner for Korea’s Securities and Futures Commission (similar to SEC) and currently is a member of Korea’s Regulatory Reform Committee. She served as president of the Financial Information Society of Korea and vice president of the Korea Monetary and Finance Association (KMFA). She is currently an auditor for KMFA and director for Korea Academic Society of Industrial Organization.

Dr. Joh is an expert on competition policy, chaebol policy and corporate governance. She shows how firms and people behave in challenging environments with increased competition, financial distress and exit threats. For example, her study showed that as corporate managers’ compensation affects their efforts, firms can use manager incentives to encourage them to collude with rival firms to reduce product market competition (Review of Economics and Statistics). Dr. Joh also showed that people in organizations facing severe competition perform worse, suggesting that restructuring should be quick (BE Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy). Also, Dr. Joh analyzes micro-dynamics of SMEs, and their public offerings (IPOs).

In addition, she showed that poor corporate governance of debt ridden firms and chaebols reduced firm profits and caused cascading bankruptcies, which drove the 1997 economic crisis in Korea --this study is in the Hall of Fame at the Journal of Financial Economics. Dr. Joh has also analyzed corporate governance issues including business groups, management incentive system, board of directors, and political assets.

Education & Experiences

[EDUCATION]

Seoul National University, BA in Economics
Seoul National University, MA. In Economics
Harvard University, Ph.D. in Economics

[ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE]

2005 - Seoul National University, Business School, Associate professor of finance
2003.3 - 2005.8 Korea University, Business School, Associate professor of finance
1997.9 - 2003.2 Korea Development Institute (KDI), Research Fellow
1994.9 - 1997.8 State University of New York - Albany, Assistant Professor of economics
2004,7 - 2004, 9 Development Bank of Japan, Tokyo, Japan, Visiting Research Fellow
2003, 6 - 2003.9 Hitotsubashi University, Visiting Associate Professor


[GRANTS, AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS]

Shimomura fellowship, Development Bank of Japan, 2004
East Asian Development Network/World Bank, Individual Research Grant 1999 - 2000
United Nations Research Institute for Social Development 2000
State University of New York-Albany Faculty Research Grant 1995 - 1996
Young Chul Min Foundation Grant 1992 - 1993
Fulbright Fellowship 1988 - 1992
Harvard University Fellowship 1988 - 1992
Woo San Fellowship 1986 - 1988
Korea America Bank President Fellowship 1987
SNU Presidential Fellowship 1984 - 1986

[GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE EXPERIENCE]

Member, Ministry of Planning and Budget/ Public funds management and evaluation committee, 2003-present
Member, Financial Supervisory Commission/ Advisory Committee, 2003-present
Research Fellow, Corporate Governance Service, 2002-present
Member, Fair Trade Commission / Advisory Committee, 1999-present
Member, Ministry of Finance and Economy / Finance Development Committee,
1998 - 2002, 2004-present
Member, Prime Ministers Office/ Committee for Government Policy Evaluation,
2000 - 2002
Member, Ministry of Finance and Economy/ Special Task Force on Bank Laws, 1998
Member, Korean Government Delegation to OECD, 1998

Publications

[JOURNAL ARTICLES]

Joh, S., W., Book Review of "Reforming Koreas Industrial Conglomerates" Journal of Economic Literature, XLII, 1, 216-218, 2004

Joh, S. W., "Corporate Governance and Firm Profitability: Evidence from Korea before the economic crisis" Journal of Financial Economics 68, no. 2, 287-322, April 2003

Joh, S. W., "Strategic managerial incentive compensation in Japan: Relative performance evaluation and product market collusion" Review of Economics and Statistics 81, no 2. 303-313, May 1999.

Joh, S. W., "Determinants of Financial Institutions Lending to Distressed Firms" Asia-Pacific Journal of Financial Studies 35, No. 1, 2005 (in Korean)

Joh, S. W., "Effects of foreign investors on Corporate Governance in Korea," ITBI
Review 10, no. 2, 79-93, Dec. 2004. (in Korean)

Youngjae Lim and S.W. Joh, "Policy Evaluation on Anti-concentration of Economic Power" Management and Law, Vol. 13, No. 2, 31-56. 2003. (in Korean)

Joh, S. W., "Corporate Governance and Firm Performance," Journal of Korean Economic Analysis Vol. 6, No. 2, August 2000. (in Korean)

Joh, S. W., "A study on the profitability of Korean firms: the effects of conflicts of interests among shareholders," Journal of Economic Policy Vol. 21, No.2, 3-54, 1999. (in Korean)

Joh, S. W., "Report on the Profitability of Korean Firms," KDI Quarterly Economic Outlook Vol. 16, No.2 1999. (in Korean)

Joh, S. W., "The effects of ownership structure on incentive system and firm performance," Journal of Economic Policy, Vol. 20, No. 3, 63-110, 1998. (in Korean)

[MONOGRAPHS]

Joh, S. W., An empirical study on changes in chaebol structure since the financial crisis: evidence from risk transfer and stock return synchronicity, KDI, December 2002. (in Korean)

Joh, S. W., Empirical Analysis on Post-Crisis Chaebol Reform, KDI, December 2001. (in Korean)

Joh, S. W., Micro-dynamics of Industrial Competition: Evidence from Korean Manufacturing Plants, KDI, December 2000.

Joh, S. W., Evaluation of Korean Corporate Restructuring: Analysis of Stock Market Data, KDI, July, 2000. (in Korean)

[BOOK CHAPTERS]

Joh, S. W., "The monitoring role of financial institutions in the Korean corporate sector" in Jwa and Lee (eds.), Competition and Corporate Governance in Korea: reforming and restructuring the Chaebol, 93-114, Edward Elgar Publisher, UK, 2004.

Joh, S. W., "Corporate Restructuring" in Chung and Eichengreen (eds.), Korean Economy: Beyond the Crisis, 194-217, Edward Elgar Publisher, UK, 2004.

Joh, S. W., "The Korean Economic Crisis and Corporate Governance System" in Ito and Krueger (eds.), Governance, Regulation and Privatization, NBER/EASE Volume 12, 129-158, Chicago University Press, 2004.

Joh, S. W. and E.S. Kim, "Corporate Structure, Governance and Performance of Korean firms in the 1990s" in Haggard, Kim and Lim (eds.), Korean Corporate Restructuring, 102-126, Cambridge University Press, UK, April 2003.

Joh, S. W., "The Korean Corporate Sector: Crisis and Reform" in Kwon and Shepherd (eds.) Korean Economic Prospects: from Financial Crisis to Prosperity, 116-134, Edward Elgar Publisher, UK, 2001.

Nam, I. C., Kim, J.K., Kang, Y., Joh, S.W. and Kim, J.I., "Corporate Governance in Korea" Corporate Governance in Asia: A comparative Perspective, 155-208, OECD, Paris, 2001.

Joh, S. W., "Does Shareholder Conflict Reduce Firm Profitability: Evidence from Korea" in Shin (ed.), The Korean Economic Crisis: Before and After, 185-214, KDI, Seoul, 2000.

Joh, S. W., "Product market collusion facilitating incentive contracts" in Choi (ed.), Economy and Government, 321-340, 1996. (in Korean)