Trans-Pacific Rebalancing: Thailand Case Study

Since the Asian financial crisis in 1997, Thailand has become highly dependent on export as the engine of economic recovery and growth. In 2008, the ratio of export to gross domestic product (GDP) was 76.5%. The global economic crisis triggered by the sub-prime loans debacle in the United States has prompted Thailand to rethink her export-led growth strategy. Year-on-year export growth plunged from a positive 22.7% in the third quarter of 2008 to a negative 7.75% in the fourth quarter and remained negative for another four quarters, leading to a negative growth of GDP for five consecutive quarters. This paper examines the options for external and internal economic rebalancing strategies for Thailand. External rebalancing will require Thailand to rely less on the US market for her exports. The paper thus examines the possibility of promoting greater regional trade by means of trade agreements and exchange rate coordination. As for internal rebalancing, the paper emphasizes the need to boost domestic public and private investment in terms of both quantity and quality in order to narrow the current savings–investment gap, bearing in mind the need to ensure fiscal sustainability. Finally, the paper examines broader rebalancing strategies that will help Thailand to become less dependent on exports. These include the need to (1) improve productivity by means of technological acquisition, innovation, and skills development; (2) increase economic efficiency by exposing the non-traded sectors, in particular the service sector, to greater competitive pressures; (3) deepen the production structure and create new dynamic industries; and (4) generate new growth poles.asian financial crisis; global economic crisis; global financial crisis; economic growth rebalancing; thailand growth rebalancing; thai economy

Rules of origin in services : a case study of five ASEAN countries

An important question in the design of bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs) covering services is to what extent nonmembers benefit from the trade preferences that are negotiated among members. This question is resolved through services rules of origin. The restrictiveness of rules of origin determines the degree of preferences entailed in market opening commitments, shaping the bargaining incentives of FTAs and their eventual economic effects. Even though the number of FTAs in services has increased rapidly in recent years, hardly any research is available that can guide policymakers on the economic implications of different rules of origin. After outlining the key economic tradeoffs and options for rules of origin in services, the paper summarizes the main findings of a research project that has assessed the rules of origin question for five countries in the ASEAN region. For selected service subsectors and a number of criteria for rules or origin, simulation exercises evaluated which service providers would or would not be eligible for preferences negotiated under a FTA. Among other findings, the simulation results point to the binding nature of a domestic ownership or control requirement and, for the specific case of financial services, a requirement of incorporation.Free Trade,Trade Law,Trade and Services,Economic Theory&Research,Trade Policy

Political Economy of Competition Law: The Case of Thailand, The Symposium on Competition Law and Policy in Developing Countries

This paper will address the political economy of competition law in Thailand. Section II will provide a historical perspective of Thai Competition Law. Section III will show what went wrong with the law\u27s implementation since its promulgation in 1999. Section IV will assess the implications of the lack of competition law enforcement on business conduct and the establishment of a competition regime in Thailand. Section V will summarize major lessons learned in the Thai case that may be relevant to other developing countries considering adopting such a law or facing difficulties in its implementation. Finally, Section VI will draw conclusions on how a country can ensure successful enforcement of a competition law in the absence of a political will

Three Essays on the Role of Exchange Rate in Inflation Stabilization, Foreign Investment Mobilization and Macropolicy Coordination

Note:This thesis is an exploration through writing, photography and a studio project, pursuing and established upon the question of architecture as a means of expression and the research of human existence comprehended through being; architecture as personal search and collective construction. The work is built as a parallel commentary to René Daumal's text Le Mont Analogue which investigates through an analogous mountain expedition, the human search for essence. Relationships establish themselves between the texts where the Wall is my analogue, through which the capacity to give form, image and substance to ephemeral comprehensions, to give birth to these comprehensions by the imagination, to make then perceptible by the self and others and to confer upon them persistence and memory, is revealed slowly to be a richness and a depth in architecture.Ce mémoire est une exploration par l'écrit, la photographie ainsi que par un projet de studio, qui poursuit et se fonde tout à la fois sur la question de l'architecture en tant que moyen d'expression et de recherche de compréhension de l'être dans son existence; P architecture en tant que démarche personnelle et construction collective. Le travail se construit comme un commentaire parallèle au texte de René Daumal, Le Mont Analogue, qui y traite, par l'analogie d'une expédition en montagne, de cette tentative humaine de rassembler des sens, de chercher l'essence. Des rapports s'établissent au fil des textes ou le Mur est mon analogue, par lequel le pouvoir de prêter forme, image et matière a d'éphémères compréhensions, de les faire naitre par l'imaginaire, de les rendre perceptibles par soi et les autres et leur conférer persistance et mémoire, se révèle peu à peu une richesse et une profondeur que recelé l'architecture

ICT sector performance review for Thailand

This paper is a part of the Telecom Regulatory Environment (TRE) assessment conducted by LIRNEasia and Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI). A perception survey of informed stakeholders of Thailand’s telecom sector, representing service providers, academics, security analysts, journalists and civil society, was conducted during February‐March 2011. The effectiveness of the regulatory and policy environment in Thailand’s fixed line, mobile and broadband market were evaluated by the respondents, along seven different regulatory dimensions: market entry, access to scarce resources, interconnection, tariff regulation, regulation of anticompetitive practices, universal service obligation (USO) and quality of service (QoS). The Lickert scale of 1 to 5 was adopted in this evaluation where 1 stands for ‘high ineffective’ while 5 represents ‘highly effective’. According to the 2010/11 TRE assessment, Thailand’s performance obtained an overall score for all dimension at 2.7, which is below the average score of 3.0. Even the regulatory dimension which received highest score, the USO, still gets a below average score. The two regulatory dimensions that dragged down Thailand’s performance are interconnection and market entry, especially market entry in mobile market which received the lowest score of all, 2.3. The low score reflected respondents’ dissatisfaction with the regulatory agency’s failure to intervene in the interconnection dispute between a large and a smaller cellular phone operator in the market that eventually led to the exit of the latter. For market entry, the main concern arises from Article 45 of the new Telecom & Broadcasting Act of 2010 whose wording can be interpreted as prohibiting the leasing of telecom network. Confusion regarding the different types of licenses was another concern about market entry