ABSTRACT
Since the 1980s, development policies in Thailand have encouraged foreign investment in the production of labour-intensive goods (textiles, garments, footwear, and vehicles), most of which are destined for export. This has led to such a rapid growth in the country’s gross domestic product that in 1993 the World Bank called Thailand one of the “high performing Asian economies”, 2 while other scholars have called it an “economic miracle” 3 and celebrated the birth of the fifth “Asian tiger”. 4
