ABSTRACT
Thailand has been a free market economy since the establishment of the Kingdom of Sukothai in the 13th century. A stone inscription in the Thai language attributed to King Ramkhamhaeng the Great reads, in relation to the economic system of that period, that: ‘Those who want to trade elephants can do so while others who want to trade horses can do so as well.’ This statement is taken to mean that it was the King’s policy to promote a system of free enterprise within the kingdom.
