Financialization and rural development: comparing credit systems in Thailand and Cambodia.

This article compares rural credit systems in Thailand and Cambodia in order to advance studies on financialization and rural development in South East Asia. In Thailand, the state remains a large provider of credit to farmers. In Cambodia, most farmers access credit from a globalized, private microfinance industry. Based on qualitative research carried out in 2021 and 2022, we argue that farmer debt has led to divergent outcomes in Thailand and Cambodia due to their opposing systems of rural credit developed over the past half-century. These systems were forged within historically specific conjunctures of international development policies, state–capital relations and domestic politics of debt. Consequently, Thailand's farmers access credit from the state at significantly lower costs and with more support in various forms. Over-indebtedness is a problem for some farmers, but not because state-controlled financial institutions charge excessive interest rates. In contrast, the cost of private credit is higher in Cambodia, with many farmers facing over-indebtedness with little to no support from the government. This article contributes to scholarship on financialization within South East Asia by demonstrating how the legacies and geopolitics of development, alongside the contentious politics of farmer debt, together shape the outcomes of rural credit systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]