K-Shaped Growth
K자형 성장
An economic term likening post-recession divergence to the letter 'K,' in which upper segments (asset owners, high-tech and financial industries, highly skilled white-collar workers) rebound rapidly in a V-shaped pattern while lower segments (renters, face-to-face services, low-skilled workers) stagnate or decline further. Popularized during the COVID-19 pandemic by behavioral economist Peter Atwater, the concept became a widely used frame in global inequality discourse and was adopted in South Korea to describe the structural split between chaebol export conglomerates and the domestic SME sector.
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) Wikipedia entry on recession shapes defining K-shaped recession as where parts of society experience V-shaped recovery while others experience L-shaped stagnation; notes term arose from COVID-19 economic recovery
- economicshelp.org Economics Help glossary entry explaining K-shaped recovery as divergent post-recession paths where higher-income households experience rising incomes while low-income households stagnate; details structural inequality, technology, rising wealth, and policy as causes
- marketplace.org Marketplace interview with Peter Atwater (College of William and Mary), who helped popularize the term during COVID-19, describing the K metaphor as originating from a divergence in confidence between white-collar remote workers and blue-collar in-person workers
- kbthink.com KB Think Korean Economic Dictionary entry defining K-shaped recovery (K자형 회복) as post-recession polarization in recovery speeds and directions across industries, firms, and classes; notes Korea's industrial dualism and labor market segmentation make it especially pronounced
- news.einfomax.co.kr Yonhap Infomax article citing US Chamber of Commerce's Susan Clark on the K-shaped recovery concept during COVID-19