Rethinking Thailand's growth strategy | Bangkok Post: opinion

ECONOMICS

Economists around the world and over the years have drawn a myriad of solutions to eradicate poverty, yet all were to no avail. A multitude of growth theories from past to present have been followed by the governments of numerous developing economies, but only a handful have been successful in generating high incomes for citizens.

In the wake of World War II, developing countries such as those in Latin America, Africa and South Asia, in pursuit of economic betterment, implemented sweeping reforms, emulating the models of developed nations. However, far from bridging the gross domestic product gap between themselves and the First World, most of those countries actually ended up poorer.

For instance, a paper by Antonio Fatas and Ilian Mihov of Insead Business School says: "30 years ago, Venezuela had a per capita income of US$7,100 [about 224,000 baht]. Despite its proximity to the largest market in the world, oil resources and investment rates fluctuating between 15% and 19%, Venezuela still stagnated. In the more recent years, the economy has even declined and its current annual income is less than $6,000 [190,000 baht] per person. People of Venezuela are poorer today than in 1975."