Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: Peter Warr, ANU
Thailand is caught in a middle-income trap of its own creation. How did this come about?
Are current policies making it better or worse, and what needs to be done to escape the trap? Read more…
Author: Peter Warr, ANU
Since the Asian financial crisis of 1997–98, the countries of East Asia have, in aggregate, run huge annual current account surpluses.
The counterparts of these surpluses, including Europe and the US, have been correspondingly huge current account deficits. Read more…
Author: Peter Warr, ANU
It has finally been announced that Thailand’s general election will be held on 3 July.
The election will be pivotal. Hopes are high that it may determine the next government amid little or no violence and thus resolve Thailand’s policy direction for the next several years. Read more…
Author: Peter Warr, ANU
The recent volatility of international food prices has reinforced the mistrust felt within many food-importing countries towards international markets as suppliers of affordable food.
One possible response is to become less reliant on food imports. Concern about food security thus becomes transformed into concern about food self-sufficiency.
Author: Peter Warr, ANU
On the afternoon of May 19, following weeks of protests and mayhem, most of the core Red Shirt leaders barricaded in the centre of Bangkok surrendered meekly to the Thai government forces. One leader who evaded capture was the volatile Arisman Pongruangrong. Just before vanishing later that afternoon, Arisman was wearing a T-shirt bearing the image of Mahatma Gandhi. The symbolism was deeply ironic.
Almost a century before, Gandhi had expounded a political principle that the Red Shirt leadership, including Arisman, had still not absorbed. To dislodge an entrenched government like Thailand’s, a popular uprising had to do two things: attract public support in very large numbers and be non-violent. The Red Shirts failed on both counts. Read more…