Imagining Future Korean Carbon Markets: Coproduction of Carbon Markets, Product Markets, and the Government

摘要

The politics surrounding Korean cap and trade policy is riddled with competing visions of carbon markets, product markets, and the government. Broadly drawing on concepts from constructivism ('coproduction') and economic sociology ('embeddedness'), this paper argues that the relationship between carbon markets and product markets is characterized as 'interactional coproduction', while the relationship between carbon markets and the government is based on 'constitutive coproduction'. Moreover, I argue that, in social conflicts, the future of carbon markets is interpretively diverse with respect to greenhouse gas emissions, greenhouse gas emission information, and greenhouse gas emission permits. The future of product markets is at issue regarding market competitiveness, business inequality, and social inequality. In the Act on the Allocation and Trading of Greenhouse-Gas Emission Permits, the envisaged roles of the Korean government are embedded in the specific policy schemes of carbon markets. The government is viewed as regulator, supporter, market manager, and participant, but not as redistributor.