Showing 1 - 9 of 9
In an uncertain world, gold is a comfort
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 05/02/2026
» With Thai citizens heading to the polls this Sunday to decide which party will form the next government, I have decided to postpone my article on the economic crisis for another two weeks.
Thaksin's 'vision' might be outdated
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 05/09/2024
» This article is not meant to diminish the brilliance of the spiritual leader of the Pheu Thai Party, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. It is to demonstrate that, despite his immense knowledge and vast experience, Thailand's current economic problems are caused by structural deficiencies and cannot be resolved by traditional stimulus measures. One needs a good understanding of economic principles to approach the problems correctly.
Pheu Thai's cash handouts a likely flop
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 24/08/2023
» The title of this article says it all. Pheu Thai Party's flagship economic stimulus policy of handing out 10,000 baht to all Thais aged above 16 years old, with an estimated cost of 560 billion baht, will most likely fail to stimulate (or jump-start) the economy from the recent economic slump.
Demand destruction the new buzzword
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 11/08/2022
» On Feb 23, a day before Russia invaded Ukraine, the world crude oil price was US$90.60 (3,221 baht) per barrel. Russian oil supply disruption and demand recovery from Covid-19 dragged the crude oil price to almost $120 at the end of May, after the US and European central banks sent strong signals that they would rapidly increase interest rates to contain inflation, despite the cost of a further economic slowdown.
Hiked wages could ease current slump
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 24/02/2022
» Before getting to the main story of raising wages, I have a point of concern to raise. That is the unusual movement of Thai baht exchange rates. Theoretically, this is the time the baht should be depreciating because of rising current account deficits due to the high prices of imported oil.
Thai economy unlikely to bounce back
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 18/03/2021
» The world is having great economic news. All international economic agencies have upgraded world economic forecasts for 2021. The latest one is the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) who raises global economic growth forecast from 4.2% (December 2020's forecast) to 5.6% (March 2021's forecast). A higher growth prospect is the result of a fast roll-out of Covid-19 vaccination; super-large US economic stimulus package; and accelerated growth of the Chinese economy. The OECD projected that the US economy would grow by 6.5% while the Chinese economy would expand by 7.8% this year. These two giant economies account for 41% of the world economy. Therefore, high growth from these two countries is likely to induce high economic growth in other economies as well.
When an economist meets a psychic
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 04/02/2021
» I enjoy reading prophecies. There is one thing fortune tellers and economists have in common: they make predictions. As an economist, I use my knowledge, theories and actual data, to check whether these prophecies make economic sense.
New lockdown bodes economic misery
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 07/01/2021
» My first article of the year cannot be about anything but the Covid-19 lockdown. Actually, I planned to write about the two-month disappearance of the world-famous Jack Ma -- founder of Alibaba and Alipay. He has an innovative idea to revolutionise the Chinese financial system but his revolutionary idea was not agreeable with Chinese authorities and caused him to "disappear". What interests me is not China's internal affairs. But his idea, once put into use, will revolutionise the global economy as well. Milton Friedman (a Nobel Prize laureate in Economics and the father of monetary policy) and his Optimum Quantity of Money theory will become useless. His idea, if taken far enough, might be able to pull the world economy out of the Covid slump. Sound interesting? Readers have to wait until my next article, which will come in two weeks' time.
Productivity slump behind Thailand's economic woes
News, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 23/05/2019
» Many of you might be waiting to read about an effective "helicopter money" policy to boost the Thai economy as I mentioned in my previous article. Of course, I have reached my conclusion on that strategy but I beg readers to wait and read today's article first. The reason is that without properly understanding the "real" economic problems, a demand-stimulating policy such as helicopter money would become useless and could do more harm than good.