— Overview
This account cites a dictionary definition of utilitarianism: an act is judged right or wrong by how far it increases human interest and happiness, by usefulness and by results. It then sets that standard beside economic democratization, a pledge that drew much support when Park Geun-hye was elected the 18th president of South Korea. About a year after her inauguration, the writer says, many still asked what the pledge meant and whether it would work.
The basic principle of the economy, as the writer states it, is to obtain the greatest effect at the least cost, or at the same cost. The meeting of that principle with economic democratization is, in the writer’s view, a mistaken one. If the state checks firms too tightly, investment may turn passive, sales may fall, and hiring may shrink. Some parts of the policy, the writer says, could be revised and might then strengthen capitalism; a policy may also disappear when the administration changes.
Those claims are left in the first year of that presidency, and no later official results are added.
— Contents and key concepts
A standard of usefulness, and a pledge in the first year
The account begins with a definition of utilitarianism, taken from a dictionary it cites. An act is judged right or wrong by how far it increases human interest and happiness: by usefulness, and by results. In a broad sense, the word covers a family of thought that places the highest value on pleasure of that kind — usefulness, happiness.
It then sets that standard beside a political pledge. Economic democratization drew much support when Park Geun-hye was elected the 18th president. In the campaign, and after the inauguration, many people still asked what it meant, and whether it would work. The writer notes that about a year had already passed since the inauguration. The argument stays in that first year. No later official verdict on the policy is added here.
A basic principle, and a meeting the writer calls mistaken
The most basic principle of the economy, the writer says, is almost a commonplace: in economic action, one tries to obtain the greatest effect at the least cost, or at the same cost. That truth, the writer adds, is not only a seller’s or a firm’s truth. Set beside economic democratization, however, the meeting is, in this account’s title for the point, a mistaken one.
If firms are tightly checked by the state, the writer argues, activity — that is, investment — may turn passive, sales may fall, and the market for hiring may shrink. The cause, in this view, is policy, and that policy is economic democratization. Some of its contents, the writer says, could be revised and supplemented, and might then make capitalism firmer. A policy may also disappear when the administration changes. Those are the writer’s judgments in the first year of that presidency, and they are left as such.
Sources
- an account that sets a dictionary definition of utilitarianism beside economic democratization in the first year of Park Geun-hye’s presidency, and argues that the meeting with a basic principle of obtaining the greatest effect at the least cost is a mistaken one.
Last updated: 14 November 2026
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