Thailand: Collapse of an Economy

Joe Willis and his team are faced with a massive mess that they must clean up and restore order back to the entity. Throughout the story Joe is read as the protagonist, but to the workers he aims to empower and improve to increase performance/productivity he is seen as the antagonist and only there because he is on a ‘witch hunt’. The fear instilled because of word of mouth that he is from ‘internal audit’ makes workers a bit worried about job security. The support affection that follows after, when he is paraded out by police and supported by the sales manager both then and during court reveals that there is a sense of friendship and connection between

Thailand's economy is driven by agriculture where it is still the world's leading producer of rice. Rice forms the bulk of its produce but other crops such as maize, mangoes, cassava, sugar cane, tobacco and pineapple among others are also grown. Apart from agriculture being the backbone of Thailand's economy, other economic activities are also explored which include mining. The country is endowed with tin, gold, iron, coal, lead and precious stones among others. Majority of Thailand's labour force are employed in the agricultural sector which is approximated to between 40% -50% of the population, and contributes to 12% of the country's GDP.

Political chaos , protesting , turmoil , and crisis are all words that can be linked to Thailand in recent weeks and on and off over the last eight years. From November 2013 until February 2014, there was constant distress throughout the country relating to the current political system and the leaders of Thailand. People were flooding the streets in Bangkok to protest the government or waving Thai flags to show support of Thailand.

After a decade of sustained growth, the current situation in Thailand is one of unprecedented economic turmoil. The countries exports have halted, foreign investors have become hesitant with their money due to the account deficit, the stock market plummeted, and big loans made by banks have caused a large accumulation of debt. Typical causes of an economic crisis, such as: high debt, large current account deficit, deregulation of the banking industry without proper controls in place, and a semi-fixed exchange rate are all at the forefront of the nation’s current economic state.

The society will be terrible and harmful if there are too many crimes including corruption and police bribing in the country (Heidensohn, 1989). Due to the terrible society, we will find it difficult to trust somebody since we cannot know that whether they are ethical or not. All we had better do is avoiding the risk of being exploited by them. What’s more, the reliability of the country will decrease as well, and this will affect economy of the country to be worse. In reality, the reliability of the country is very important because it can be used to measure the quality of the country (Martin & Eroglu, 1993). According to Standard and Poor organization, credit rating agency, Thailand reliability is rated A (Sovereign rating list, 2014). However, unless the policy of bribing concerning the police is progressively reinvented, I am certain that reliability of Thailand will soon decrease since the problem of corruption including police bribing will be worse and continuously impact tourism and economy. Tourism is one of the most important kinds of business in Thailand that contribute people to have more income and occupation (Chancharat, 2011). We can say that the number of unemployed citizens will greatly rise up and economy will be in the crisis if tourism in Thailand does not exist or is inefficiently

East Asian success was also achieved by private domestic investments and rapidly growing human capital were the main principal of the growth, in my opinion. Also by agriculture, declining in relative importance, experienced rapid growth and productivity improvement. The population growth rates declined more rapidly than in other parts of the developing world. I think that the development policy was a major ingredient in achieving rapid growth. The policies to increase integrity of the banking systems and to make are more accessible to non-traditional savers, raised by levels of financial savings. I think that the Asian economies have been better than others at providing macroeconomics environment and reliable legal frame work to promote domestic

Manufacturing continued to grow rapidly in the 1980s and early 1990s. In recent years, Korea's economy moved away from the centrally planned government-directed investment model toward a more market-oriented model. Korea bounced back from the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis with some International Monetary Fund assistance, which based largely on extensive financial reforms. According to the U.S. Department of State website“ …these economic reforms, pushed by President Kim Dae-jung, helped Korea maintain one of Asia's few expanding economies, with growth rates of 10% in 1999 and 9% in 2000. The slowing global economy and falling exports slowed growth to 3.3% in 2001, prompting consumer stimulus measures that led to 7.0% growth in 2002. Consumer over-shopping and rising household debt, along with external factors, slowed growth to near 3% again in 2003. Economic performance in 2004 improved to 4.6% due to an increase in exports, and remained at or above 4% in 2005, 2006, and 2007.”3 Now with understanding of South Korea’s economics we can move on to our last venture where we will sum up our journey through the orient.

Following the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the IMF bailout provided desperately needed funds to revive South Korea 's economy but came with a caveat of strict mandates. The aftermath left sectors of its economy eviscerated, patches of its society dissolved, and sent my family on a plane to the United States. What could have been an otherwise typical American dream narrative for me, however, evolved into a lifelong aspiration toward global affairs. Reaching for a graduate study program is the next appropriate step in realizing my passion.

In this essay we look in-depth on how government strategies and economic policy play a crucial role in the success of High Performance Asian Economies (HPAEs) during 1960 to 1990 (World Bank 1993).There are eight countries within HPAEs: South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan. Its economic development has significantly rise that it was name ‘East Asia Miracle’ (World Bank, 1993).

The Bank of Thailand’s vision is “to be an organization of vision and principles that engages with stakeholders in develops of Thailand’s sustainable economic well-being.” Its four core values consist of “Visions, Principles, Humility and Collaboration.”

The Thai government, unable to redirect the outward flow of money, was officially broke on July 2nd, 1997 (Jones, 1999). On August 5th, 1997, they accepted a $17 billion bailout from the IMF in exchange for allowing them to restructure their economy. Many Thai banks were suspended or closed, budgets were cut, and they were forced to significantly increase the interest they paid on foreign investments (Frontline, n.d.) (International Monetary Fund, 1999).

For about twenty years, East-Asian countries were held up as economic idols. They were hailed as the ideal models for strong economic growth of developing countries because of their high savings and investment rates, autocratic political systems, export-oriented business, restricted domestic markets, government capital allocation, and controlled financial systems.

Improving the value of exports is the primary goal of Thailand’s international trade policy. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community (AEC) was established as an effective cooperative strategy for gaining market advantages through regional market integration. Thailand aims to capitalize on trade agreements by networking and entering partnership with neighboring countries. Currently, Thailand’s cross-border trade in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) plays a crucial role in globalization, because it facilitates rapid and convenient trade and investment. Countries seek new export markets to disperse the risk of domestic market concentration, as evidenced by the economic recessions affecting

According to FAO Corporate (no date), since the First National Economic and Social Development Plan began in 1961, emphasis has been on economic development. Natural resources and human capital expanded the production base, employment opportunities and national income. These guidelines were appropriate for and consistent with the country 's situation in the early period of national development because of abundant natural resources and an excess labour supply, especially in the agricultural sector. Thailand 's production and exports, therefore, were attributed largely to these comparative advantages. Some problems are due to planning focusing on income generation, regardless of the cost to natural resources, the environment and society. Human resources were seen as production inputs serving the labour market; less attention was given to human potential, intellectual capability and local ways of life. Emphasis was on foreign technology transfer, rather than research and development (R&D) to upgrade existing wisdom (ibid).

The presence and influence of the private sector in Southeast Asia have never been strongly felt in the present time since the market collapse in the early 2000s. Governments and regional associations scurried in saving their economies by providing massive interventions in spending and funding. Much of the crises became the woe of the public and the private sector became more averse to business. Rohde (2011) posited that “restoring of financial confidence led to a permanent transfer of losses to the public sector, as the private sector’s risk takers were bought out.” Things were further exacerbated by the failure of banks to sustain inflow of capital to the already suffering privately-owned companies at that time. All of these problems piled up and forced the world economy to spiral down. The destructive debt collapse in the West affected most businesses in the East, albeit sparingly, as the Asian Financial Crisis in the latter part of the 1990s paved the way for Asian governments to place economic safeguards in order to insulate themselves from future drastic economic downturns.