section_path: Political positions/Economic and social policy
section_name: Economic and social policy
paragraph_text: Economic and social policy
  
  Lee tends to run a policy platform close to the centre-left in the Democratic Party of Korea. Lee advocates for New Deal liberalism economically and respects the policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt. On 10 October 2021, Lee said "We will change the graph of economic growth upward with a strong state-led economic revival policy. I'll learn from Roosevelt, who overcame the Great Depression with left-wing policy (좌파 정책)".
  
  Lee announced his overarching economic policy vision as "Transformative and Fair Growth". Lee's view on the Korean economy is that many problems have arisen from the slowdown of economic growth. Low growth leads to fewer opportunities for younger generations, causing fiercer competition and social unrest. This is especially relevant for Korea, as the rules and institutions that have been designed for a high-growth catch-up economy no longer work well for an advanced economy.
  
  Lee asserts that the slowdown of economic growth is related to the unfairness and polarization in many areas of the economy: for example, the gap between big monopolies and small and medium-sized enterprises, the differences between platforms and irregular workers, and inequalities in the real estate market. Unfair conventions distort people's economic incentives in a way that encourages rent-seeking activities, causing serious inefficiency in resource allocation.
  
  Lee's growth strategy, "Transformative and Fair Growth" comprises a set of policies to make the economy fairer and more transformative. Innovations and transformation can be expedited on the basis of right incentives and fairer institutions. This strategy includes industrial policies for a " Green New Deal " and digital transformation, education reforms to help people adapt to the new environment, balancing market power among economic entities, measures for fair competition and labour market justice, and social safety nets to share risks related to the transformation.
  
  His overall policy stance is close to social liberalism and moderate progressivism, but there are also some economic liberal tendencies, such as real estate tax cuts and partial corporate deregulation. This tendency toward economic liberalism has shifted to the right compared in recent years, and increased before and after the 2022 South Korean presidential election. Lee has complemented this shift with occasional rhetoric supporting traditional Buddhism's role in maintaining social cohesion nationwide, despite Lee being a Protestant who has emphasized Christians gaining political power.
  
  Unlike most South Korean liberals, Lee often speaks favorably of former dictator Park Chung Hee. Lee said on 2 November 2021, "President Park Chung Hee created the Gyeongbu Expressway to open the way for manufacturing-oriented industrialization," adding, "The Lee Jae-Myung administration will build an 'energy highway' that will open a new future while speeding through the decarbonised era." The Dong-A Ilbo, a conservative media outlet in South Korea, said Lee's state-led policies are closer to Park Chung Hee's authoritarianism than left-wing populism based on social equality.
  
  When Lee evaluated Chun Doo-hwan 's economic performance favourably on 11 December 2021, he was criticized by South Korea's liberal camp. The Justice Party's Sim Sang-jung said of Lee, "You seem to have become a presidential candidate for the People Power Party while trying to differentiate yourself from the Moon Jae-in government". The People Power Party's presidential candidate, Yoon Suk Yeol, sarcastically said, "You can be our party's presidential candidate". In an editorial to The Hankyoreh, a South Korean centre-left liberal journalist who was critical of the dictatorship in the past strongly criticized Lee for forgetting his (liberal) "values" to win the votes of conservative voters.