Byunghwan Son
Biographic Data
| ID | 1252020 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Byunghwan Son |
| GIVEN NAMES | Byunghwan |
| FAMILY NAME | Son |
| SIGNATURE | SON B |
| AFFILIATIONS | George Mason University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0163-6986 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 81 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
K-pop Fan Perceptions and Negotiation of Alternative Forms of Masculinities
The unexpected surge of K-pop and Korean pop culture, particularly in the United States, has sparked growing interest in fandom studies, which increasingly documents K-pop fans’ nuanced awareness and prospects for breaking down cultural barriers. This study contributes to the growing Hallyu literature by examining the gender perspectives of American K-pop fans regarding the masculinities performed by K-pop male idols. Based on the original data c…
Foreign pop-culture and backlash: The case of non-fan K-pop Subreddits during the pandemic
Foreign policy consequences of democratic backsliding: The case of the Comfort Women Agreement in 2015
Recent studies have documented the profound effects that democratic backsliding generates on various realms of governance. However, foreign policies remain an exception in this trend despite the notable emergence of non-traditional foreign policy positions backsliding governments around the world took in recent years. To address this gap, this paper examines South Korea's policy toward Japan during its recent period of democratic backsliding, foc…
Consequences of democratic backsliding in popular culture: Evidence from blacklist in South Korea
A burgeoning literature firmly establishes that democratic backsliding leaves negative imprints in various domains. However, this empirical regularity has not been extended to the realm of culture despite ample anecdotes pointing to the detrimental effect of democratic decays on the very backbone of cultural dynamism, the freedom of expression. To fill this lacuna, the article documents the case of deliberate infringement on freedom of expression…
Supercorporate: Distinction and Participation in Post-hierarchy South Korea
Large companies in South Korea have long been cast as a central subject in the East Asian political economy, particularly in the context of the developmental state and corporatism debates. Everyday lives inside these companies, however, have rarely had light shed on them. The fact that white-collar office work in these spaces embodies the widely desired and collectively imagined upper middle class in South Korea makes this paucity that much more …
The Health Cost of Autocratization
Are democratic crises also human crises? While the determinants of the erosion of democracy have been extensively scrutinised in the literature, their public policy consequences remain relatively unexplored. In a novel attempt to navigate this uncharted terrain, we analyse the effect of autocratization on health outcomes. We conceptualise autocratization as the relative decline of ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ accountability. ‘Vertical accountabili…
Security Threats and Investment: North Korean Threats and the South Korean Stock Market
Do external security threats shy away from foreign investors? While classical political economy theories focusing on property rights protection posit that security threats undercut financial inflows, recent empirical studies report rather mixed evidence. We add to this body of research by investigating the effect of North Korean military provocation on financial inflows in South Korean stock markets. We contend that (i) foreign investors favor co…
Presidential Approval Ratings and the Foreign Exchange Market
Do presidential approval ratings affect exchange rates? The empirical purview of the vast literature on this topic has been confined to the run-up to elections. The importance of approval ratings in non-election periods has therefore been under-studied. Examining daily data on the exchange rate of the Korean won during the presidency of Park Geun Hye, we find that the won weakened (1) when Park’s ratings were low and (2) when they bounced back un…
Interpersonal Trust and Confidence in Labor Unions: The Case of South Korea
How do ordinary citizens view labor unions? The importance of public opinion about unions has rarely been highlighted in the contemporary literature on labor politics. Using five waves of the World Value Surveys on South Korea, this article suggests that public confidence in labor unions is significantly affected by individuals’ interpersonal trust, conditional on their perception of the political representation of labor. Unlike those with high l…
Doi Moi and Vietnamese threat perception of Chinese economic growth
A growing body of literature has recently emerged establishing that political socialization influences foreign policy preferences of the public. But the empirical domain of this literature has been confined largely to American foreign policy and whether and how this empirical regularity holds in a non-democratic, non-western setting is unknown. Filling this lacuna, this research note studies the Vietnamese public attitudes toward Chinese economic…
Democracy and Reserves
Does democracy affect foreign exchange reserves? This paper identifies four possible explanations for the determinants of foreign exchange reserves. Using the relationship between public goods provision and political regime types as a conceptual centerpiece, it offers a theoretical framework in which these four arguments are pit against each other. The “insurance” and “social cost” arguments posit monotonously positive and negative relationships …
Political Parties and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows among Developing Countries
This article focuses on the nature of party systems to explain variations in foreign direct investment inflows within developing democracies. We hypothesize a positive relationship between the effective number of parliamentary parties and foreign direct investment inflows. Large effective number of parliamentary parties is indicative of the expropriation risks as well as stability of the political environment of host countries. We thus argue that…
The mysterious overvaluation of KRW in the 1990s
Existing theories on real exchange rates predict a significant undervaluation of the Korean won (KRW) in the early and mid-1990s. The paper demonstrates why this expectation did not materialize and instead an unprecedentedly large degree of overvaluation took place. Focusing on three variables, namely, financial repression, devaluation pass-through, and policy exhibitionism, the paper examines how the unraveling of the developmental state eventua…
Are the Poor the Weak Link? Democratic Support and Income Levels in Post-Crisis South Korea
Extant literature on democratization documents that ordinary citizens’ unconditional support for democracy is indispensable to democratic consolidation. Yet observers of nascent democracies have repeatedly witnessed that such support often hinges upon their economic conditions. This article argues that income levels have a conditioning effect on this relationship; the Korean poor see democracy as a tool for income redistribution and are less like…
Latin American democratisation and currency crises (1975–2008)
Policy choices in tough times: The case of democratization and currency defense
Do policymakers under financial and political distress make undesirable policy choices? This paper attempts to answer this question by studying the relationship between democratization and currency devaluation under speculative pressures. The central argument is that young democracies exhibit relatively high probabilities of succumbing to speculative attacks, as the political cost of economic adjustment needed for defense is relatively high for t…
Economic coercion and currency crises in target countries
Despite significant research on the efficacy and inadvertent humanitarian and political effects of economic sanctions, surprisingly little is known about the possible economic and financial consequences of sanctions for target economies. Synthesizing insights from the currency crisis literature with sanctions scholarship, we argue that economic sanctions are likely to trigger currency collapses, a major form of financial crisis that impedes econo…
Economic Inequality and Democratic Support
Economic Inequality and Democratic Support
Economic coercion and currency crises in target countries
Despite significant research on the efficacy and inadvertent humanitarian and political effects of economic sanctions, surprisingly little is known about the possible economic and financial consequences of sanctions for target economies. Synthesizing insights from the currency crisis literature with sanctions scholarship, we argue that economic sanctions are likely to trigger currency collapses, a major form of financial crisis that impedes econo…
Foreign policy consequences of democratic backsliding: The case of the Comfort Women Agreement in 2015
Recent studies have documented the profound effects that democratic backsliding generates on various realms of governance. However, foreign policies remain an exception in this trend despite the notable emergence of non-traditional foreign policy positions backsliding governments around the world took in recent years. To address this gap, this paper examines South Korea's policy toward Japan during its recent period of democratic backsliding, foc…
Political Parties and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows among Developing Countries
This article focuses on the nature of party systems to explain variations in foreign direct investment inflows within developing democracies. We hypothesize a positive relationship between the effective number of parliamentary parties and foreign direct investment inflows. Large effective number of parliamentary parties is indicative of the expropriation risks as well as stability of the political environment of host countries. We thus argue that…
Are the Poor the Weak Link? Democratic Support and Income Levels in Post-Crisis South Korea
Extant literature on democratization documents that ordinary citizens’ unconditional support for democracy is indispensable to democratic consolidation. Yet observers of nascent democracies have repeatedly witnessed that such support often hinges upon their economic conditions. This article argues that income levels have a conditioning effect on this relationship; the Korean poor see democracy as a tool for income redistribution and are less like…
Policy choices in tough times: The case of democratization and currency defense
Do policymakers under financial and political distress make undesirable policy choices? This paper attempts to answer this question by studying the relationship between democratization and currency devaluation under speculative pressures. The central argument is that young democracies exhibit relatively high probabilities of succumbing to speculative attacks, as the political cost of economic adjustment needed for defense is relatively high for t…
Consequences of democratic backsliding in popular culture: Evidence from blacklist in South Korea
A burgeoning literature firmly establishes that democratic backsliding leaves negative imprints in various domains. However, this empirical regularity has not been extended to the realm of culture despite ample anecdotes pointing to the detrimental effect of democratic decays on the very backbone of cultural dynamism, the freedom of expression. To fill this lacuna, the article documents the case of deliberate infringement on freedom of expression…
Interpersonal Trust and Confidence in Labor Unions: The Case of South Korea
How do ordinary citizens view labor unions? The importance of public opinion about unions has rarely been highlighted in the contemporary literature on labor politics. Using five waves of the World Value Surveys on South Korea, this article suggests that public confidence in labor unions is significantly affected by individuals’ interpersonal trust, conditional on their perception of the political representation of labor. Unlike those with high l…
Democracy and Reserves
Does democracy affect foreign exchange reserves? This paper identifies four possible explanations for the determinants of foreign exchange reserves. Using the relationship between public goods provision and political regime types as a conceptual centerpiece, it offers a theoretical framework in which these four arguments are pit against each other. The “insurance” and “social cost” arguments posit monotonously positive and negative relationships …
Economic Inequality and Democratic Support
Economic coercion and currency crises in target countries
Despite significant research on the efficacy and inadvertent humanitarian and political effects of economic sanctions, surprisingly little is known about the possible economic and financial consequences of sanctions for target economies. Synthesizing insights from the currency crisis literature with sanctions scholarship, we argue that economic sanctions are likely to trigger currency collapses, a major form of financial crisis that impedes econo…
Are the Poor the Weak Link? Democratic Support and Income Levels in Post-Crisis South Korea
Extant literature on democratization documents that ordinary citizens’ unconditional support for democracy is indispensable to democratic consolidation. Yet observers of nascent democracies have repeatedly witnessed that such support often hinges upon their economic conditions. This article argues that income levels have a conditioning effect on this relationship; the Korean poor see democracy as a tool for income redistribution and are less like…
Latin American democratisation and currency crises (1975–2008)
Policy choices in tough times: The case of democratization and currency defense
Do policymakers under financial and political distress make undesirable policy choices? This paper attempts to answer this question by studying the relationship between democratization and currency devaluation under speculative pressures. The central argument is that young democracies exhibit relatively high probabilities of succumbing to speculative attacks, as the political cost of economic adjustment needed for defense is relatively high for t…
The mysterious overvaluation of KRW in the 1990s
Existing theories on real exchange rates predict a significant undervaluation of the Korean won (KRW) in the early and mid-1990s. The paper demonstrates why this expectation did not materialize and instead an unprecedentedly large degree of overvaluation took place. Focusing on three variables, namely, financial repression, devaluation pass-through, and policy exhibitionism, the paper examines how the unraveling of the developmental state eventua…
Democracy and Reserves
Does democracy affect foreign exchange reserves? This paper identifies four possible explanations for the determinants of foreign exchange reserves. Using the relationship between public goods provision and political regime types as a conceptual centerpiece, it offers a theoretical framework in which these four arguments are pit against each other. The “insurance” and “social cost” arguments posit monotonously positive and negative relationships …
Political Parties and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows among Developing Countries
This article focuses on the nature of party systems to explain variations in foreign direct investment inflows within developing democracies. We hypothesize a positive relationship between the effective number of parliamentary parties and foreign direct investment inflows. Large effective number of parliamentary parties is indicative of the expropriation risks as well as stability of the political environment of host countries. We thus argue that…
Interpersonal Trust and Confidence in Labor Unions: The Case of South Korea
How do ordinary citizens view labor unions? The importance of public opinion about unions has rarely been highlighted in the contemporary literature on labor politics. Using five waves of the World Value Surveys on South Korea, this article suggests that public confidence in labor unions is significantly affected by individuals’ interpersonal trust, conditional on their perception of the political representation of labor. Unlike those with high l…
Doi Moi and Vietnamese threat perception of Chinese economic growth
A growing body of literature has recently emerged establishing that political socialization influences foreign policy preferences of the public. But the empirical domain of this literature has been confined largely to American foreign policy and whether and how this empirical regularity holds in a non-democratic, non-western setting is unknown. Filling this lacuna, this research note studies the Vietnamese public attitudes toward Chinese economic…
Security Threats and Investment: North Korean Threats and the South Korean Stock Market
Do external security threats shy away from foreign investors? While classical political economy theories focusing on property rights protection posit that security threats undercut financial inflows, recent empirical studies report rather mixed evidence. We add to this body of research by investigating the effect of North Korean military provocation on financial inflows in South Korean stock markets. We contend that (i) foreign investors favor co…
Presidential Approval Ratings and the Foreign Exchange Market
Do presidential approval ratings affect exchange rates? The empirical purview of the vast literature on this topic has been confined to the run-up to elections. The importance of approval ratings in non-election periods has therefore been under-studied. Examining daily data on the exchange rate of the Korean won during the presidency of Park Geun Hye, we find that the won weakened (1) when Park’s ratings were low and (2) when they bounced back un…
The Health Cost of Autocratization
Are democratic crises also human crises? While the determinants of the erosion of democracy have been extensively scrutinised in the literature, their public policy consequences remain relatively unexplored. In a novel attempt to navigate this uncharted terrain, we analyse the effect of autocratization on health outcomes. We conceptualise autocratization as the relative decline of ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ accountability. ‘Vertical accountabili…
Foreign pop-culture and backlash: The case of non-fan K-pop Subreddits during the pandemic
Foreign policy consequences of democratic backsliding: The case of the Comfort Women Agreement in 2015
Recent studies have documented the profound effects that democratic backsliding generates on various realms of governance. However, foreign policies remain an exception in this trend despite the notable emergence of non-traditional foreign policy positions backsliding governments around the world took in recent years. To address this gap, this paper examines South Korea's policy toward Japan during its recent period of democratic backsliding, foc…
Consequences of democratic backsliding in popular culture: Evidence from blacklist in South Korea
A burgeoning literature firmly establishes that democratic backsliding leaves negative imprints in various domains. However, this empirical regularity has not been extended to the realm of culture despite ample anecdotes pointing to the detrimental effect of democratic decays on the very backbone of cultural dynamism, the freedom of expression. To fill this lacuna, the article documents the case of deliberate infringement on freedom of expression…
Supercorporate: Distinction and Participation in Post-hierarchy South Korea
Large companies in South Korea have long been cast as a central subject in the East Asian political economy, particularly in the context of the developmental state and corporatism debates. Everyday lives inside these companies, however, have rarely had light shed on them. The fact that white-collar office work in these spaces embodies the widely desired and collectively imagined upper middle class in South Korea makes this paucity that much more …
K-pop Fan Perceptions and Negotiation of Alternative Forms of Masculinities
The unexpected surge of K-pop and Korean pop culture, particularly in the United States, has sparked growing interest in fandom studies, which increasingly documents K-pop fans’ nuanced awareness and prospects for breaking down cultural barriers. This study contributes to the growing Hallyu literature by examining the gender perspectives of American K-pop fans regarding the masculinities performed by K-pop male idols. Based on the original data c…
Political science (16 works) · Politics (14 works) · Economics (13 works) · Law (12 works) · Political economy (10 works) · Democracy (9 works) · Law (8 works) · Development economics (7 works) · International economics (6 works) · Global Financial Crisis and Policies (5 works)