The Effect of Elites and Colonization on Literacy∗

In this paper we look at the impact of elite class and Japanese colonization on modernizing Korea. Our case study focuses on the historical Korean kingdom known as Joseon, the first monarchial state to be colonized by Japan in 1910. In particular we investigate how pre-existing scholarly traditions and colonial public school provision influenced the overall literacy level in Korea. We introduce novel data from Joseon’s historical court exam archives, colonial education data, and census data going back to 1930. Our main findings suggest that the spread of literacy is mainly explained by the historical presence of educated upper class from the Joseon dynasty, rather than the school system established under the colonial rule. We also find that areas with elite presence had more teachers as well as other types of educational institutions including private and traditional schools. ∗Preliminary draft: comments welcome. †New York University; [email protected] ‡NYU Abu Dhabi; [email protected]