Thailand : social and economic studies in development

Abstract

Thailand suffered invasion, inflation, and defeat in World War II. From its badly disorganized economy it was obliged by the peace treaty to deliver rice for several years to the United Nations at prices well below the prevailing free market price. In spite of this its international reserves have made a spectacular recovery and its present growth rate puts it in the front rank among the less developed countries. This is not to say that an account of Thailand's development since World War II is simply a success story. There have been corruption and industrial mismanagement, features of the social structure that hamper development, challenges both internal and external that have not yet been adequately met; from all these there are lessons to be learnt. Yet on the whole its progress appears to have been due to a capacity to learn by experience, and to use the aid of foreigners, both Western and Chinese, without allowing them to dominate the economy. Thailand, which has never undergone a period of Western colonial rule, has a social structure which admirably illustrates the diffusion of the Western economic system. Its agricultural taxation, its trade pattern, its banking system, and its methods of industrialization all have unique features. This series of studies, containing both survey material and new work, combines discussion of these and other aspects of Thailand{u2019}s social and economic structure with a general account of its economic development.