Growth, inequality and poverty in South-east Asia - The case of Thailand

This paper deals with urban and regional planning and the effect of industrial growth on the distribution of income and poverty levels in developing countries. It suggests that in Thailand regional inequality is increasing and that poverty in some Thai cities may have increased in recent years. Migration from the poorer regions to the urban areas could explain this, but the national accounts suggest not. Scant public examination of poverty trends adds to the difficulty of understanding the impact of growth on poverty. The paper also uses recent data collected from Bangkok slums to discuss the problems of the poor in a more dynamic urban context and suggest how poverty and inequality trends might be more fruitfully analysed in the future.