Abstract
It has been pointed out that economic policies in Thailand tended to be “conservative” in the sense that the Thai government paid very little attention to economic development, especially during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). Some argued that the “conservativeness” was caused by the influential English financial advisors to the Thai government. Others argued that the Thai government adopted the “conservative” economic policy voluntarily because it was the orthodoxy in this period. This article aims to search for origin of the “conservativeness.”
This paper takes up the period of King Mongkut (Rama IV) because in this period Western influence increased. The economic policies of King Mongkut are analyzed from the viewpoint of the influece of Western economic thought and classical economics. Despite the similarity with the Western economic thoughts, there is no evidence for the systematic introduction of the Western economic ideas. Rather than the influence of the West, Thailand had characteristics which were suited to the “conservative” economic policies. In this paper we examine two such characteristics. One is the incentive system through the market as a means to control people, and the other is the entrepreneurship of the king and high ranking officials.
