본 연구는 인상학의 여러 관점사 중 부(富)에 대한 연구로서 한국의 재벌기업 창업자 13인과 게임기업 창업자 21인을 대상으로 동양의 전통적 상학인 인상학의 이론을 적용하여 두 집단의 인상의 공통점과 차이점을 분석하기 위한 것이다. 이를 위해 삼정(三停), 이마, 귀, 눈썹, 눈, 코, 입 등 7개 부위를 얼굴의 길이와 상대비율로 측정하여 통계분석 하였다. 분석결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 이 두 집단 간의 공통점은 귀의 길이와 코의 길이가 한국의 표준형에 비해 길다는 점이다. 이는 인상학의 고전 이론과 부합하는 점이라 할 수 있다. 둘째, 두 집단 간의 차이점은 귀길이, 귓불길이, 코의 세로길이는 재벌창업주가 더 길었고, 눈썹과 눈사이를 의미하는 전택궁 역시 재벌창업주가 더 길고 넓다는 점이다. 이는 재벌창업주의 인상이 고전 상법과 더욱 일치함을 의미한다. 그러나 게임기업 창업주는 코의 가로길이가 더 길었는데 이는 코가 넓고 두툼하다는 것을 의미하는 것이다. 반면 고전 상법에서는 귀끝이 눈썹 끝보다 높아야 한다는 전제가 있는데 사례자 전원은 반대였다. 이는 고전 인상학의 기준이 현대에는 적용되지 못함을 의미한다고 볼 수 있다. 인상 부위 중 두 집단의 공통점은 코와 귀로 나타났다. 이에따라 귀길이, 귀 불길이, 전택궁길이, 코세로길이, 코가로길이의 5개 변수를 대상으로 판별분석을 실시하였다. 그 결과 판별적중율은 82.4%로 높은 판별율을 나타내어, 두 집단 간의 인상의 차이점이 특징적으로 존재함이 나타났다. 전체적으로 재벌창업주의 인상은 고전 인상학의 이론과 부합되었지만, 게임기업 창업주의 경우 불일치 하는 경우도 나타났다. 따라서 인상학이 현대의 학문영역으로 진입하기 위해서는 실증과 검증이 필요함과 동시에 현대에 맞는 이론으로 전화되어야 한다는 과제를 안겨주고 있다.

This paper examines how corporate social responsibility is related to the degree of asymmetric information in the Korean financial market. Recent theory argues that there is a negative relationship between a firm’s corporate social responsibility and its information asymmetry. To test this hypothesis, we use the environment, social and governance (ESG) score, published by the Korean Corporate Governance Service, to proxy a firm’s management practices toward socially responsible activities. In the entire sample of the Korean firms, we find contrasting results; the ESG score shows negative relationships with the price impact measure but statistically insignificant relationships with the dispersion of analyst forecasts. However, the ESG score shows negative relationships with both measures when we exclude chaebol affiliates from the sample. These findings are robust when we examine environmental, social and corporate governance scores separately. This set of results argues for the extant theory, expecting a negative relationship between a firm’s engagement in corporate social responsibility and asymmetric information. It further argues for the importance of firm characteristics in determining the influence of socially responsible activities.

Purpose – This aim of this study is to examine how conglomerates in Korea have evolved from the perspective of institutional economics. The growth of the economy, dominated by large conglomerates, is projected in light of the dynamic equilibrium between government and capitalists. Research design, data, and methodology – The historical formation of big business groups is examined in chronological order. For the analysis, we divide the assessment into three different eras: Japanese colonial rule, liberation up to the civil war, and the fast growing period since the military coup. Each period is viewed as a dynamic equilibrium that is shaped by economic agents. Results and Conclusion – Despite the rise of modern commerce during the colonial era, contemporary conglomerates came into being with the "enemy property" allotted by the government. Around the civil war, the government coexisted with prototype conglomerates through foreign aid. As the external aid decreased, the system could not be sustained anymore, thus the military coup took place. The reinstated strong bond between government and the conglomerates has shaped the forms of the modern conglomerates thereafter.

The original ruling took into consideration the fact that the accused was a Chaebol owner and applied the concurrent offence punishment provisions and the discretionary sentence reduction system to lower the inferior limit of the penalty, and passed a suspended sentence. In order to divert public criticism, the original ruling also ordered a huge payment as a social contribution fund as a means of a community service order according to article 62-2 of the penal code. But the Supreme Court construed the concept of a community service order in a restrictive manner as ‘work or manual labor that can be imposed by the hour up to 500 hours.' As a result of this construction the Supreme Court reversed and remanded the original judgment that ordered the payment of a social contribution fund as a community service order. The original court maintained the suspended sentence by imposing a 300 hour community service instead of the original social contribution fund payment. Consequently the fairness of the examination of the offence was greatly impaired by lowering the inferior limit of the penalty to 3 years in a case in which the accused was proven guilty of 11 separate offences including one of which the penalty is stipulated as ‘life sentence or imprisonment for more than 5 years.' This ruling disclosed the problematic issues of the concurrent offence punishment provisions and the discretionary sentence reduction system that grant judges excessive discretion on weighing penalties. It is also legislatively meaningful that the case raised issues on introducing new forms of ‘suspended sentence conditional orders' such as fund payment orders or damage recovery orders.