Content area
Abstract
Thailand has faced income inequality for many years along with its fast economic growth. This study investigates the Thai economy by regrouping Thailand into two new subgroups, the inland and coastal regions. It examines the economic growth of Thailand, whether or not the poor could catch up with the rich during the sample period of 1981--2003. This paper also examines the trends of regional disparity and the effects of globalization on income inequality in the nation, interregions, inland region, and coastal region during the sample period. The Kuznets curves were derived from the Theil index, and the economy is also explored to determine the presence of any structural change.
There is evidence that the gap between the poor and the rich at the provincial level increased during the boom period and decreased during the crisis period, while it reduced at the regional level during both periods. The interregional disparity was quite stable, while the intraregional disparity increased quite dramatically during the sample period. Structural changes in the economy were detected. The Kuznets curves show three types of Schumpeterian entrepreneurs. Globalization, measured by trade volume, had a significant impact on the increasing regional disparities at the national, interregional, and intraregional levels, while health factor had influence on the decreasing regional disparities and education factor had influence on the increasing regional disparities at the national and interregional levels. Finally, the annual growth rate had a significant effect on the rise in inequality in the coastal area.
