ABSTRACT
A study of government-business relations in the 1980s and the early 1990s must give attention to the Joint Public and Private Sector Consultative Committees (JPPCCs). The development of business associations, especially peak organizations and provincial chambers of commerce, has also been influenced by these JPPCCs. It is therefore important to understand the functioning of the JPPCCs and the factors underlying their emergence. In 1983 a subcommittee responsible for the screening of problems and issues for the JPPCC was also formed. Problems and issues brought to the JPPCC by business seem to fall into three major categories: reducing bureaucratic red tape and delays, removing stifling laws and rules, and addressing the problems of excessive taxation. The immediate function of the JPPCCs, according to their advocates, was to tackle serious economic problems with the participation of business. The JPPCCs have encouraged the development of business associations in Thailand in different ways.
