Showing 1 - 10 of 17
The effects of unfinished momentum
News, Peerasit Kamnuansilpa, Published on 08/11/2025
» Why do some nations surge confidently into the future while others advance only in half-steps, not declining but not accelerating either? In their influential book Why Nations Fail (first published in 2012), Daron Acemoglu -- now a Nobel Prize economist -- and James Robinson, both economists and political scientists at the University of Chicago, offer a helpful lens for understanding Thailand's development path without casting blame or provoking division.
Thailand must redefine FDI for future
News, Peerasit Kamnuansilpa, Published on 14/08/2025
» Thailand's economic future looks increasingly uncertain. Once a rising star among emerging markets, the country now faces persistent stagnation. A key reason lies in how we have treated foreign direct investment (FDI) -- not as a strategic lever for national economic development but as a short-term fix driven by rent-seeking behaviour, bureaucratic collusion, and a failure to safeguard the nation's long-term economic interests and its goals for equitable development.
Rethinking what it means to be human
News, Peerasit Kamnuansilpa, Published on 05/07/2025
» In the decades ahead, Thailand will not collapse in a blaze of war, disease, or climate catastrophe. Rather, it will quietly wither from within. The twin forces of demographic decline and digital automation are converging with astonishing speed, and yet our political and moral imaginations remain unprepared.
Rethinking leadership in Thailand
News, Peerasit Kamnuansilpa, Published on 14/06/2025
» Thailand stands at a development crossroads. On the surface, the nation has invested heavily in education, innovation, and technical training. Each year, it produces a new wave of high-achieving graduates, particularly in the fields of science and technology. Yet, the country remained mired in a persistent middle-income trap. The question is not whether Thailand has talent, but whether it has the institutional culture and civic direction to channel that talent into meaningful national progress.
Innovation in an era of debt brake
News, Peerasit Kamnuansilpa and Bruce Gilley, Published on 07/03/2022
» In the 21 years after the Asian financial crisis of 1997, Thailand's government ran a budget deficit 18 times. However, due to ineffective management, excessive fiscal spending did not produce the intended effect of economic acceleration.
We need to do more
News, Postbag, Published on 09/08/2021
» Re: "The shame of Thai tourism", (Editorial, Aug 7).
Knowledge is power
News, Postbag, Published on 02/05/2021
» Re: "Can Thailand ever move forward", (Opinion, April 28).
Path to economic progress: A tale of two nations
News, Peerasit Kamnuansilpa & Le Anh Khanh Minh, Published on 17/04/2020
» The present pandemic, which has generated concerns over Asean countries' economic sustainability and global food supplies, reminds us that Thailand and Vietnam are primarily agrarian societies, competing with each other as major rice-exporting countries. In the 1960s, both were classified as economically less developed countries before moving a notch higher to "developing countries". Presently, both countries are ranked as middle-income, although Thailand is slightly ahead since its advancement to the category's upper tier in 2011, while Vietnam has remained in the lower tier since 2013. It is expected that Thailand will not be able to progress much over the next 20 years, while Vietnam could achieve high-income status by 2045. Still, this relative decline is not inevitable.
Thailand's 'wicked' development trap
News, Peerasit Kamnuansilpa and Le Anh Khan Minh, Published on 19/09/2019
» For almost five decades now, Thailand has been a victim of the middle-income trap. From the 1970s to the 2000s, the country was ranked by the World Bank as lower-middle-income, advancing to upper-middle status in 2011. Considering the ongoing political uncertainty and weak governance institutions, the prognosis is that Thailand will likely remain at this ranking for many years. This has become a "wicked problem" for the country's economic and social development.
Ethnic inequality 'extreme', says study
News, John Draper & Peerasit Kamnuansilpa, Published on 21/02/2019
» In the spirit of Sustainable Development Goal 10, which seeks to reduce inequality, Thailand's first major national study on differences in development by ethnicity was recently published.