korrents

What Oliver Kim thinks about Europe

@oliver-kim · 19 positions · 1 change of mind

Development economist and economic historian who writes the Global Developments newsletter. He works on East Asian growth — Taiwanese land reform, Korean industrial policy — and on what the East Asian record does and does not tell other poor countries.

Oliver Kim did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

2 dated positions, 2025, in their own words. Our reading of what Oliver Kim has said — not written or endorsed by them.

2 positions so far — this page is not yet offered to search engines.

  1. Our readingJapanese colonial rule built a far deeper state in Korea than European rule ever built in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Their wordsThe Japanese empire reached far deeper into its colonies than any European empire ever did in Sub-Saharan Africa.

    ↗No, South Korea Was Not Poorer Than Kenya in 1960global-developments.org 3rd of 8 in this piece

    Japan

  3. Our readingThe newly independent states of Africa were largely European inventions, assembled from peoples who had not previously shared a state.

    Their wordsThe relative absence of pre-colonial states meant that the newly independent African states were largely European inventions; modern Kenya, for instance, inherits the boundaries of British East Africa, which was created by pulling together the Kikuyu, Luo, Luhya, Kalenjin, and Kamba ethnic groups.

    ↗No, South Korea Was Not Poorer Than Kenya in 1960global-developments.org 6th of 8 in this piece

    innovation