Thailand

Brief History

Since 2010, Thailand has mainly been in the news because of its political turmoil. Even so, it has experienced strong economic growth of around 5 percent between 2002 and 2007. It is reminiscent—without being noticed nearly as much, though—of the 1990s, when Thailand was a leader among the Asian Tigers. These countries’ economies were ostensibly showing the potential of economic globalization to increase gross domestic product (GDP) and modernize, that is, industrialize, the economies of countries that had been underdeveloped, a rise that was seemingly cut short by the Asian financial crisis of 1997–98 (in which Thailand again played a prominent, this time negative, role). Already in 2001, however, export-led growth resumed, buoyed by a weak currency, and combined with Keynesian state spending on large projects in an approach known after Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra as Thaksinomics. Growth continued (albeit, less strongly) despite the subprime crisis and the following recession in the United States and Europe. China's rise, however, overshadowed all others so that less international attention has been given to the continuing development of smaller countries such as Thailand.

Where “globalized” parts of the economy are concerned, then, Thailand has emerged as one of the centers for turning both local and imported resources into goods to be fed into the world economy. Textiles and footwear, jewelry, electrical appliances, computers, and even cars are produced in Thailand, predominantly for export (which accounts for two-thirds of GDP). Thailand also gained importance as an anchor economy supporting growth in its neighboring countries.

Economic activities based on local resources, presenting a direct consumption of land and productivity, continue to form major elements of the Thai economy. The two most noteworthy cases are [Page 907]agriculture, in particular, production of rice, and tourism. Although they have lost their predominant position in the economy, they are integrated into aspects of the global economy and interact with traditional culture in ways that are highly interesting. They arose out of Thai cultural contexts and have given rise to major discussions about the meanings of development and have brought awareness to the tension between development and conservation, both natural and cultural.

Agriculture

The agricultural sector still employs 49 percent of the Thai labor force (down from 70 percent in 1980); major products are rubber, rice, and fishery products, especially shrimp. Thailand is, in fact, the world's largest exporter of rice, and it is the cultivation of this crop, in particular, that shows tensions. On the one hand, like all of Thailand's agriculture, rice growing has shifted from laborintensive to mechanized, input-intensive agriculture. As recently as 2008, however, there had been reports of Thai farmers returning to the use of water buffalo for cultivation of rice fields, as rising gasoline prices cut into the earnings from rice sales. In 2010, however, according to the Bangkok Post, Thailand's stock of water buffalo had fallen from 6 million to only 1.3 million, as farming machines were (again) favored and consumption of buffalo meat was on the rise; but officials and Her Majesty the Queen Sirikit of Thailand urged farmers to use water buffalo more, in order to favor resilience against economic disruptions over short-term increases in yield.

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