ABSTRACT
Though the Thai economy has grown impressively in the past 50 years, the country is now in the ‘middle-income trap’, it cannot reach a high-income economy and catch-up with forerunner countries in Asia, like Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, in technologically sophisticated industries. At the same time, it is losing to countries like Indonesia, Vietnam and others in labour-intensive and resource-based industries. The underlying problems are the passive and slow technological learning behaviours of firms in Thailand. Apart from deficiencies in the firms’ technological efforts and strategic intent to upgrade, several ineffective technology and innovation policies have been perpetuated, contributing to this phenomenon. The chapter outlines seven highly ineffective policies and compares them with those in countries that have been more successful at catch-up in East Asia. These lessons can be learnt for other developing countries that want to escape or avoid the middle-income trap.
