Basic Report

One of the most noticeable characteristics of Korea in the 21st century is the trendsof aging and low growth. Korean society had already gone through the world's fastest agingprocess and it is predicted to become a super-aged society by 2026. Also, the Koreaneconomy has entered a phase of low growth with its growth rate continually declining aftertwo consecutive depressions. This trend of aging and low growth is affecting regionaldevelopment investment and is predicted to cause changes such as but not limited to:decreasing product development demand, encroaching human capacity, pressuringinvestment funds, increasing welfare demand, and limiting income and job creation. In thissense, changes in some of the keynotes of our policies which meets the new investmentenvironment of aging and low growth is being called upon to effectively allocate limitedinvestment funds and to maximize investment returns.This research aims to observe the process, reasons, and the characteristics of Korea'saging society and the lagging economy. Secondly, the research looks over the effects ofaging and low growth on regional development investment environment. Lastly, the researchplans to lay out an advisable regional development investment strategy and to suggestpolicy improvements by arranging some of the problems and implications through ananalysis of the current investment system of regional development implemented by thecentral government.In the second chapter, we analyze the process and the characteristics of Korea's agingand low growth trend and their effects on the regional development investment environment.This research categorized the effects of aging and low growth into three categories whichinclude economic environment, socio-cultural environment, and spatial environment.The third and the fourth chapter deals with the regional development policy systemand the analysis of investment conditions. We have analyzed the structure and themanagement system of accounts by focusing on Special accounts on Economic Regions andregional development, which is an important investment fund for regional development.Especially, the research suggests in detail the problems of managing Block Grant, animportant characteristic of accounting. Also, the research analyzes each city's investmentcharacteristics by utilizing Jeon-buk as a example region for a deeper insight. The researchalso presents results from statistical analysis, lack of budget capacity, attachment of weighton hardware operations, lagging research on new enterprises, limitations of Block Grant,remaining overlapping and redundant enterprises, and the budget allocation led by centralgovernment institution.The fifth chapter suggests results from a survey about regional developmentinvestment within our aging and low growth society. Experts in the field of regionaldevelopment policy were chosen as subjects of this survey and their opinions on the effectof aging and low growth society on regional development investment environment werecollected.Finally in the sixth chapter, the research suggests new regional developmentinvestment strategy in the aging and low growth society while suggesting policyimprovement plans. The investment strategy includes objective, enterprise, implementationmethods, and system to seek policy alternatives. In terms of the objective, the researchreadjusts the core value of regional development investment to the satisfaction of the qualityof life in the low growth and aging society. In terms of the enterprise, the research suggestsguiding investments based on substantial demand, transferring to a return-inclined enterprise,and discovering new enterprises that meet the demands of aging and low growth society.Also, it is necessary to improve the implementation methods of regional developmententerprises to overcome resource limitation and to strengthen the propulsion capacity byclose cooperation and connections with regional institutions. Lastly in terms of theimplementation system, it is needed to allow regional institutions to draw up their ownbudget plan and select enterprises without the intervention from the central government toencourage regional governments to come up with plans that make their regions creative andinnovative.