This paper aims to understand the disparities in secondary schools in Thailand and their underlying factors. Data was obtained by tracing the basic education reform measures that have been taken over the last 20 years, and by conducting interviews with an official of the Basic Education Commission in the Ministry of Education, university students, and a graduate. The review of the National Test (ONET) scores indicates that the disparity of schools in urban and the rest is gradually shifting downwards from high school to junior high school. Results from the interviews with the university students highlight the decisiveness of human relationship; that is, a patron-client relationship, where, for Thai people, life and career seem to be determined from the moment of one's birth. Similarly, interviews with the Ministry official imply that there is a pessimistic feeling that this tendency will be strengthened particularly in the context of legitimization of education as welfare through the efforts made by the Equitable Education Fund. Parallelly, the Ministry enhances and promotes luxurious education programs for the few. However, the narration of the next generation of Thais (university students) on their actual experiences about the disparities of the secondary school, the traditional Thai values, and the influential human relationships, etc. gives new hope that the next generation will transform the Thai traditional society and its values by considering the common good in the context of universalization and the disparities of education. These findings confirm the existence and continuation of the disparities in secondary school reported by previous researchers (e.g. Funatsu 2003, Lathapipat 2018). One important discussion point is that the disparities of secondary schooling are deeply rooted in the hierarchical structure of the Thai society (Holmes et al. 1995=2000). Another point is that although Thailand is“the land of the free,”its freedom, equality and equity are different from those recalled in the review articles of this special issue.

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Many of studies of the Thai economy have so far had little concern for local cities on the premise that Thailand consists of a capital city, that is, Bangkok, and the rural area, that is, the rest of the country. Even when local cities are studied, they used to be regarded just as target areas for administrative control and regional development programs by the central government, and/or for exploitation by external big companies. In short, those studies paid little attention to actors within local economies.
In contrast to those studies mentioned above, the current studies increasingly make efforts to understand local economy from some internal viewpoint by putting emphasis on the active behavior of provincial businessmen, some of the most important economic actors in local cities. The aim of this paper is to review the current trends of these studies and to point out issues to be further studied. The results are summarized in the following three respects:
First, since the end of 1970's, not a few scholars belonging to the so-called“political economy school (Samnak Setthasat-kanmuang)”have published the results of their research on the history of development and political behavior of provincial businessmen who base their business activities upon local cities.
However, these studies statically considered provincial businessmen as merchant capitalists, dependent capitalists, or Jao Pho. As a result, they underestimated the dynamic aspect of their business expansion and the variety of their responses to the changing politico-economic situation.
To the contrary, it is necessary to make thoroughly positive researches of the active behavior of provincial businessmen in the changing conditions in the intra-national and international economy, political power structure, the government's economic and industrial policy, and in relation to external capital. At the same time, it is important to avoid defining a priori the existence, form and role of provincial businessmen.
Second, full attention should be also paid to the role and function of provincial business associations. It is true that as studies on Jao Pho have already shown, there are big businessmen at the provincial level who can exert great influence (itthiphon) upon provincial government officials and politicians as well as upon the local business world. But at the same time, it should be realized that there are not only such influential businessmen but also many provincial businessmen who make efforts to do business sometimes by cooperating with others through formal business associations at the provincial level (e.g. provincial chambers of commerce). Moreover, provincial business associations increasingly are expanding the scope of their activities.
However, those provincial business associations such as provincial chambers of commerce have a relatively short history and have played still limited roles in the policy-making process of the government. It is necessary, therefore, to conduct further research on the roles and limitation of provincial business associations in terms of their historical background of organizing themselves and the relative position of those associations in the local business world.
Third and lastly, comparative studies of local cities within Thailand are also necessary. Judging from some cases on which studies of Jao Pho are based, the arguments of those studies may be persuasive. However, studies of other cases indicate that there are at least some cities with a more pluralistic social form to which the Jao Pho model does not apply.
What socio-economic factors bring about such differences between areas? This is also one of the issues to be further studied.

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