Investment by Korean conglomerates before and after the crisis

This paper analyzes the investment behavior of the Korean corporate sector before and after the 1997 financial crisis. Using firm-level data, we find that after controlling for investment profitability and cash flows, Korean conglomerates (‘chaebol’)-affiliated firms, particularly ones with low-managerial ownership, made significantly higher investments than non-chaebol firms before the crisis. In contrast, this difference in investment volume between chaebol and non-chaebol firms is no longer existent in the period following the crisis. We find the sharp reduction in investment by chaebols in the post-crisis period can be attributed mainly to the need to moderate their debt burden. It is not clear, however, whether these changes indicate an improvement in investment efficiency.