The economics behind the rise of BTS and Korean culture

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4.5 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 March 2026

⏱️ 34 minutes

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Summary

From the success of “K-pop Demon Hunters” to the return of BTS, K-pop is having a moment. But the rise of Korean culture was no accident—it has a decades-long backstory of investment by the South Korean government. On “Economics on Tap,” Kimberly talks with Michelle Cho, researcher of East Asian pop cultures at the University of Toronto, about the history behind the spread of Korean culture and how it’s shaped industries from entertainment to beauty. Speaking of K-beauty: sunscreen or sheet masks?

Here’s everything we talked about today:

‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Leads the Wave Back to Korea from Foreign Policy
BTS Is Back With ‘Arirang,’ but the K-Pop Landscape Has Changed from The New York Times
K-everything: the rise and rise of Korean culture from The Guardian
"Americans Are Learning Korean Because of ‘KPop Demon Hunters’" from The New York Times
"What’s So Special About Korean Sunscreens?" from Vogue
"How K-pop Stars Are Leading Mental Health Conversations for AAPI People and Beyond" from Teen Vogue

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Transcript

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1:24.7	Hello everyone, I'm Kimberly Adams. Welcome back to Make Me Smart where none of us is as smart as all of us. Thank you to everyone who's tuning in on the YouTube live stream or listening later on the podcast. We really appreciate you joining us for Economics on Tap, our weekly happy hour episode. And this week, we are going to talk about K-pop, which, as anybody who pays any attention to media at all knows, has been having a moment with the success of K-pop demon hunters.
1:53.2	And in case you haven't heard, the boy band, although man band now, honestly, BTS is back after they were on hiatus for military service.
2:02.8	They have their new album that dropped today.
2:04.9	Look, the rise of K-pop and Korean culture more broadly in the United States and around the
2:10.3	world is really a story about the global economy.
2:13.7	So joining me today to help make us smart about all of this is Michelle Cho.
2:18.3	She's a researcher of East Asian pop cultures at the University of Toronto.
2:22.3	Welcome to the show, Michelle.
2:24.3	Hey, thanks for having me.
2:26.3	Thank you so much for joining us.
	...

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