The conventional wisdom is that opening up new branches is the best way to extend outreach of the formal financial sector to rural areas. Using a survey data set, this paper challenges the conventional view by concluding that relatively resource-rich rural households from distant locations availed multiple loans from formal lenders rather than the households located closer to
Covid-19 will have faded as an immediate threat in a few years. Yet its effect will last longer. Governments across the world, including Thailand, will face huge challenges in trying to finance the economic recovery programme that will be needed when countries get back on their feet.
The path to poverty in Thailand
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published : 20 Jan 2021 at 04:00
44 Welfare cardholders queue up to get cash at a Krungthai Bank ATM in Pathum Thani in December last year. (Photo by Sarot Meksophawannakul)
Thailand has had an interesting journey to its current ranking of sixth in the world, and first in Asia, in income inequality, as cited by the World Population Review. The country has historically been a patronage society, where the upper echelons of society are expected to look after those who are underprivileged.
This characteristic of Thai society has been predominant since the Sukhothai Period, about 700 years ago. The 1932 Siamese Revolution transformed the political system from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy with a king as the head of the state and a prime minister as the head of government. From the revolution until 1975, Thailand had 35 cabinets and 12 prime ministers, all rising to power through coup d états or mi