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Asia and Pacific > Thailand

You are looking at 1 - 2 of 2 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Labor productivity x
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Cover IMF Working Papers
Structural Transformation — How Does Thailand Compare?
Mr. Vladimir Klyuev
Thailand stands out in international comparison as a country with a high dispersion of productivity across sectors. It has especially low labor productivity in agriculture—a sector that employs a much larger share of the population than is typical for a country at Thailand’s level of income. This suggests large potential productivity gains from labor reallocation across sectors, but that process—which made a significant contribution to Thailand’s growth in the past—appears to have stalled lately. This paper establishes these facts and applies a simple model to discuss possible explanations. The reasons include a gap between the skills possessed by rural workers and those required in the modern sectors; the government’s price support programs for several agricultural commodities, particularly rice; and the uniform minimum wage. At the same time, agriculture plays a useful social and economic role as the employer of last resort. The paper makes a number of policy recommendations aimed at facilitating structural transformation in the Thai economy.
Keywords:
WP; productivity difference; low-productivity agriculture; high-productivity sector; price support; productivity differential; productivity growth; structural transformation; industrialization; agricultural price support; standard of living; Thailand's productivity gap; low-productivity activity; productivity increase; higher-productivity sector; differentials in Thailand; Agricultural sector; Productivity; Employment; Labor productivity; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
The Impact of Intersectoral Labor Reallocationon Economic Growth
This study seeks to explain economic growth differences in an aggregate production function framework, where labor reallocation from agriculture to modern sectors influences labor efficiency growth. The econometric analysis uses a panel of 65 countries over 1960-90. The results highlight: (a) the differences in labor reallocation impact on growth, controlled for using the intersectoral wedge in labor productivities; (b) the significance of labor reallocation effects, even after controlling for capital accumulation, initial conditions, and country effects; (c) the role of slow labor reallocation in explaining the dummy variable for Sub-Saharan Africa; (d) the role of initial education levels in explaining differences in labor reallocation rates.
Keywords:
WP; growth rate; Growth; labor reallocation; labor efficiency; education; reallocation effect; reallocation variable; reallocation decision; labor efficiency index; labor reallocation-driven growth; country effect; labor productivity gap; labor reallocation variable; Public expenditure review; Labor productivity; Capital accumulation; Sub-Saharan Africa; South Asia; East Asia; Africa