1995 Economic Reforms

The 1995 Economic Reforms, also known as the Masa Programme or the Tokunaga Reforms were a set of changes to the Neo-Korean economy, designed to eliminate the usage of currency on an internal level in the wake of Beom Dae's ascension to power. The centerpiece of these reforms was the introduction of a linked pyramid of computerized management systems designed to allow for the control of distribution of food, luxuries, and housing - with these resources being distributed based on the already existing Neo-Korean Labor Classification System. These programs would be successful in this goal, alongside their other lesser-stated purposes of incorporating the Iminchebol into the state apparatus in a more effective manner and the elimination of a majority of societal ills related to the covered materials, such as starvation or housing issues, although on an economic level it has been questioned if other policies could have provided greater economic growth. The program has also been critiqued from an Lorist perspective on the basis that it has created a semi-official caste system in relation to labor, reinforcing existing issues in Neo-Korea in relation to such and therefore failing to promote the general common good of society. Systems similar to the reforms have been promoted in other State Partist nations, such as the République Autonome d’Arcadie or Seuria.

The reforms were given their theoretical basis by the work of Tokunaga Masa, an Pan-Hiakemirist economist who believed that the utilization of such a system would allow for the goals of Pan-Hiakemirism to be more successfully worked towards, through the liquidation of common means of foreign influence (currency exchange). Tokunaga would also be the main implementer of the program through his role as the Minister of Economic Development.

Background

Throughout history, Pan-Hiakemirist economics had primarily drawn from the work of Yuichi Yang, who believed that the utilization of capital in the form of an established currency was crucial to establishing a distinct form of "reward system" for workers who agreed to follow the general economic programs set out by the state and Iminchebol. This consensus would gradually be challenged throughout the course of history, especially in the wake of the Kāichrén Civil War, wherein a form of non-currency state economics was enacted successfully by Hikaru Sakuma throughout the course of the conflict, although he would rapidly re-adopt currency in the wake of such. The necessity of foreign trade in relation to rebuilding the state in the wake of the ending of isolations meant that no official challenges to the conventional economic hierarchy were allowed, although during the course of the CGC Period attempts to curtail certain aspects of non-state economic hierarchies would already begin.

Rise of the Hanihondō

During the course of the aforementioned CGC Period, the first major challengers to the economic policies of the state would begin to emerge - primarily from the newly-graduating students of Pan-Hiakemirist economics in major universities, who eventually began to unify as the "Hanihondō", an unofficial group dedicated to the promotion of political and economic theories which they believed would solve many enduring issues in the wake of Hikaru Sakuma's attempted assassination. Especially notable amongst the Hanihondō was Tokunaga Masa - a professor who had promoted anti-consensus economic theories since the early 70s, and who possessed a small role in the National Development Party even before his rise in prominence.

The Hanihondō would work to promote their beliefs amongst other educated groupings, gathering the support to begin being considered a serious political force by members of the NDP, and therefore gradually beginning to gather influence amongst the lower ranks of the party. Their slow rise into the halls of power would be rapidly assisted by the ascension of Beom Dae to the role of Paramount Leader.

Ascension of Beom Dae

Beom Dae's ascension to fill the seat of Paramountcy which had sat vacant since the assassiation attempt on Hikaru Sakuma had a number of knock-on-effects, both domestically and internationally. The most influential domestic policy shifts would come as a result of his personal purges in the wake of his ascension, with the Kokhensesu providing notable advancement opportunities for those outside of the traditional sphere of power that was the National Development Party, including for members of the Hanihondō. Many such figures would be placed into the Ministry of Labor on the direct orders of Beom himself, where they would be crucial to enacting the economic reformism Beom had desired for some time.

While not built from a fundamental distaste of the current economic system, Beom believed that large scale economic reforms could break the power of his presumptive political opposition, and therefore could benefit his regime and the stability of such in the long term. He chose to follow the policies laid out by Tokunaga Masa based primarily on his personal belief that Masa was more personable than the other major economic figure of the early period of Beom's regime, Ige Masaru, who promoted a generally market focused branch of reformism.

Rationale

The Masa Report

Masa would prove his usefulness in the eyes of Beom via his publishing of the Masa Report in the early months of 1995, with the report laying out a distinct ideological and political plan to utilize existing computerization programs to develop a computerized network of management to allow for a general reduction in capital utilization. The report was incredibly controversial at the time, believed to represent at unecessary deviation from set-in-stone functioning economic philosophy. Beom attempted to neutralize this dissent by offering the city of Fuzan as a testbed for Masa's economic policies, with the city reporting general growth in the stability of almost all industries and the elimination of a fair portion of the homeless population through their incorporation into the labor system.

With these early actions successful, the report would be iterated upon as a means to develop a more concrete plan - entering the official beginning stages a few months after the start of the Invasion of Jungg'o.