Joonsik (Joon) Kim

I am a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Toronto, specializing in political and economic sociology, with a focus on comparative-historical analysis. Broadly, I am interested in how the social meanings of money shape financial outcomes, particularly in the context of state–society relations.

My dissertation examines national pension fund management in the United States, Canada, and South Korea. Drawing on archival data from consensus-building committees and legislative hearings, it analyzes how policymakers, business, and labor representatives contested the principles of fund management in the late 1990s—and how these struggles produced three distinct investment patterns that persist today.

In a similar vein, I also explore how the social meaning of foreign exchange reserves constrained central banks' reserve-management strategies, as well as the conditions under which state efforts to mobilize household savings can become politically acceptable or unacceptable.