Capital Accumulation in Thailand 1855–1985

"Thailand is one of the fortunate few among the developing countries of the world which has been experiencing high-rate economic growth. Today, and increasing number of Thai politicians and economists openly express their adamant belief that the kingdom would become one of the most successful NICs by the 1990s. When Gen. Sarit launched his industrial promotion policy three decades ago, Thailand was still basically an agricultural country with 80% of the total labour force in the agricultural sector producing 40% of the GDP. The rapid and radical economic change we are now witnessing which have continued to welcome the influx of foreign capital and technology with the provision of various investment incentives. But who are the economic actors who, by opportunely responding to government policy, have brought about Thailand's capitalistic growth in recent years! And under what historical circumstances did they emerge?

"To answer these basic questions involves a far more complicated and time-consuming process than people might first think. Even the identification of a single person, for example, may require a writer to spend months of patient research due to the complexity of sources in Thai, Chinese, and English, where the same person may appear under totally different names. Only such a determined and preserving economic historian as the present author could have undertaken and completed such a meritorious task. Capital Accumulation in Thailand, 1855-1985 by Suehiro Akira, an impressively well-documented piece of work, will not only provide a direct answer to at whose hands and by what process Thailand developed economically, but should be required reading as a book which lays a firm foundation for the advancement of the science of Thai modern economic history." -ISHII Yoneo, Professor, Center for Southeast Asian Studies Kyoto University

About the Author

SUEHIRO AKIRA, born in 1951, is an Associate Professor at the institute for Economic Research, Osaka City University. After studying the modern Japanese economy in the Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo, he joined the institute of Developing Economics, Tokyo in 1976, where he was engaged in the study of the Thai economy. During 1981-83 he made extensive field survey studies in Thailand on Thai industries and enterprises as a research fellow at Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute. His major works include The Industrialization of Thailand: The NAIC Challenge (in Japanese) (Tokyo: Institute of Developing Economies, 1978) co-edited with Yasuda Osamu.