Women in the Economy in North Korea

This paper uses survey data to examine the experience of women in North Korea’s economic transition. Women have been shed from state-affiliated employment and thrust into a market environment characterized by weak institutions and corruption. More than one-third of men indicate that criminality and corruption is the best way to make money, and 95% of female traders report paying bribes. The increasingly male-dominated state preys on the increasingly female-dominated market. Energies are directed toward survival and this population appears to lack the tools to act collectively to improve their status.

From a new paper by Haggard & Noland in World Development (January 2013), a draft is here.