The changing role of provincial business in the thai political economy

Since the late 1980s, Thailand has moved increasingly rapidly into the ranks of the newly industrialising countries (NICs). The success of the transformation of an agricultural economy to one dominated by industry is usually attributed to two factors: first, prudent fiscal and financial policies pursued by officials at the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Thailand who managed to remain relatively independent of political interference; and second, the entrepreneurialism of local business people (see Christensen et al. 1993).