EMBEDDED AND AUTONOMOUS MARKETS IN NORTH KOREA'S FISHING INDUSTRY: RESOURCE SCARCITY, MONITORING COSTS, AND EVOLVING INSTITUTIONS

Abstract North Korea today is a most unusual post-socialist state. Market actors and market prices are integral to economic life, but private property remains illegal, enterprise outside the household de jure non-existent. In such an institutional context, some processes more autonomous in relation state, while others embedded within state structures. this article, we offer theoretical account of shape that Korea's economy has taken, developed from set fishing industry case studies. We note four broad categories enterprises: closely embedded, loosely semi-autonomous, autonomous. By relative autonomy/embeddedness mean control over fixed assets, cash flow, operational decisions as wage price setting. postulate three major determinants embeddedness/autonomy: (1) strategic resource scarcity between actors, (2) monitoring costs, (3) evolution reflects these realities, though varying extents.