Search

Since the 1990s, CO2 emissions have increased steadily in line with the growth of production and the use of energy in the manufacturing sector in Thailand. The Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index Method is used for analysing the sources of changes in CO2 emissions as well as the CO2 emission intensity of the sector in 2000−2018. On average throughout the period, both the amount of CO2 emissions and the CO2 emission intensity increased each year relative to the baseline. The structural change effect (effect of changes of manufacturing production composition) reduced, but the intensity effect (effect of changes of CO2 emissions of individual industries) increased the amount of CO2 emissions and the CO2 emission intensity. The unfavourable CO2 emission intensity change came from the increased energy intensity of individual industries. The increased use of coal and electricity raised the CO2 emissions, whereas the insignificant change in emission factors showed little impact. Therefore, the study calls for policies that decrease the energy intensity of each industry by limiting the use of coal and reducing the electricity used by the manufacturing sector so that Thailand can make a positive contribution to the international community’s effort to achieve the goal of CO2 emissions reduction.

The study computes and analyses the sources of the change of energy intensity of the manufacturing industries in Thailand during the period (1991–2011) using the decomposition method. The Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index is computed and the results show that the energy intensity in the period (1991–2000) increased greatly from the increased energy intensity of each industry. In the more recent period (2000–2011) the energy intensity declined a little. However the decline was mainly from the structural change effect with negligible contribution from decreased energy intensity of each industry. The findings imply the need to balance industrial restructuring policies with efforts to reduce energy intensity for a sustainable economic development. Besides, there is much room for individual industries to improve their energy efficiency. Policies on restructuring energy prices and other non-price related measures should be devised to induce individual industries, particularly the highly energy intensive ones, to reduce their energy intensity.

This study examines the effects of the foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth in Vietnam by using the panel data model across Vietnam’s sixty-one provinces in 1995–2006. The study shows that there is a strong and positive effect of FDI on economic growth in Vietnam as a channel of increasing the stock of capital. Human capital and trade in Vietnam are not yet the channels that give access to advance technology and knowledge transfers from FDI inflows to increase Vietnam’s economic growth.

This study investigates technological spillovers of foreign direct investment (FDI) in horizontal, upstream, and downstream industries on domestic manufacturing firms in Thailand, using firm level data from the 2012 industrial census conducted by the National Statistical Office. First, we measure total factor productivity (TFP) and estimate stochastic production frontier to find technical efficiency of firms. Next, we examine impacts of the FDI and other factors on the TFP and technical efficiency of domestic firms. The results provide no evidence on spillover effects of the FDI in horizontal industries on either the TFP or technical efficiency of domestic firms. While the FDI in upstream industries shows negative spillover effects, the FDI in downstream industries reveals positive and significant spillover effects on firms in all industry groups. Firm-specific characteristics such as age, size, availability of imported raw materials, location at industrial estates, and R&D activities all had positive effects on firms’ TFP and technical efficiency in total industries. Although export capability had a positive impact on total factor productivity and technical efficiency of domestic firms in the capital and technology-intensive industries, the effect was insignificant in the labor-intensive ones. The findings imply limited spillover effects of the FDI on domestic firms but highlight favorable effects of the openness policy (affecting availability of imported raw materials and exports), infrastructural investment (available in the industrial estates), and R&D activities. Incentives should be given to the FDI with vertical linkages with domestic input suppliers in order for local firms to gain the most from FDI technology transfers.

This paper reviews the evolution of small and medium firms in Thailand in recent years. It shows that such firms did not preserve their share of total employment during the period 1987–96; indeed, their share fell from 60% to 52% over this period. Much of this decline was felt in the category of very small firms (with less than 10 workers). This aspect is explored further by looking at small firm employment shares in three sub-periods of varying overall economic growth rates. It is found that when overall economic growth is high, the share of small firms tends to contract possibly because many small firms become medium in size and others disband because their owners can find more remunerative employment in larger firms. In slower growth periods, the employment share of small firms appears to rise probably because larger firms may be taking in less new workers or even laying off workers. The paper also calculates productivity measures (technical efficiency and total factor productivity) and shows that different measures give different rankings by size of firm.

The study aims at finding the energy intensity and the sources of the changes of the energy intensity of the steel and steel products industry in Thailand using the firm level data collected from the surveys and interviews of steel firms in 2005 and 2012. The study finds that the energy intensity of the industry during the decade of domestic and global economic turbulent time in the 2000s fluctuated. The intensity declined immediately after recovering from the 1997 financial and currency crises but moved in an inverted U-shaped curve when the industry went through the various changes of production structure during 2003 to 2010. The decomposition analysis based on the logarithmic mean Divisia index method finds that the source of the changes of the energy intensity of the industry was dominated by the structural change effect. The fluctuation of the energy intensity was found despite a persistent decline, albeit relatively small, in the energy intensity of individual subsectors. This calls for the need to strengthen the effect of subsector energy intensity changes to help reduce the energy intensity of the industry in the long term. The study results imply four policy measures the government should use to induce steel firms to reduce their energy intensity and thus use the energy in the most efficient way.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has increased rapidly in East Asian countries over the past two decades, and many studies find that it has significant linkages with economic growth. This paper examines the impacts of FDI in groups of 15 East Asian countries classified by level of economic development, using panel data analysis together with cointegration methods. The results show that favourable impacts of FDI on East Asian countries depend on complementary factors, particularly each host country's economic conditions such as levels of financial market development, institutional development, better governance, and appropriate macroeconomic policies. Furthermore, East Asian countries need to increase their investment in fundamental infrastructures, human capital development, and facilities for enhancing international trade and investment climate.

The paper analyses the nature, the determinants, and the impacts of net capital inflows surging in Thailand after the 1997 currency and financial crises. After the crises, the composition of the net capital inflows was changed from the ones dominated by short-term flows to direct foreign investment. However, in recent years, huge net inflows of short-term loans and portfolio investment have returned. While direct foreign investment found mostly in the manufacturing export sector gains from real depreciation of domestic currency, short-term loans and foreign investment in debt and equity were attracted by real exchange rate appreciation together with high returns on investing in Thailand as well as in the emerging Asian region as a whole. As a result of the surge of total net capital inflows, asset prices increased somewhat, foreign reserves grew rapidly as domestic currency appreciated both in nominal and real terms. The study suggests policies which seek to balance the impacts of capital inflows on real exchange rates and the accumulation of foreign reserves. An attempt should also be made to allow for capital to flow out more freely mitigating the adverse effects of the net capital inflow surges.

The social security system in a country may be viewed as being directly related to its level of industrialization (Rimlinger 1971). The process of industrialization and resulting urbanization leads to a gradual breakdown in traditional extended family relationships. This implies that an increasing proportion of the labour force becomes entirely dependent on wages. Workers thus become exposed to the risk of cessation of earnings because of sickness, unemployment, or old age and face the need for social security protection.1 Social security measures are aimed at reduc ing insecurity among workers and their families and provide for the less fortunate, thus contri buting to harmonious social development in a country. Though the objective of social secu rity remains the same in all countries, whether developed or developing, the approach to so cial security differs among nations. In many countries, the state or the government takes full responsibility for providing benefits to the distressed against insecurity. In certain coun tries, the state plays a limited role in directly providing social security benefits, but formu lates various measures which allow the labour

Travel-time savings tend to be the dominant benefit of transportation improvements in developed countries. We can infer the values travelers attach to travel time from their choices among services that differ in time and money costs. This study applies maximum-likelihood estimation techniques to ridership survey data from routes on which a schedule of alternating high- and low-fare buses offers passengers an unusually wide range of prices for saving time. The methods we use provide estimates of the population distribution of waiting-time values rather than merely one, or a few, representative values.