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The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XII, 2020

Under the “capability approach” to diminishing inequalities, access to
5
education is a key concern. Designing policies to improve access requires detailed
analysis of the factors that determines the current inequality. Dilaka Lathapiphat

(2016) shows that the situation of Thai education has changed rapidly over the past
two decades. As a result of the policy to expand basic education, access to upper
secondary education has improved. But at the tertiary level, access has become
more unequal, and household wealth has become increasingly important as the
determining factor. Dilaka shows that subsidies for tertiary education of the
poor will not work on their own. More needs to be done to improve access to
good quality education from the pre-school level onwards, especially in poorer
regions.

Inequality of wealth

In Thailand, the capacity to save and to accumulate wealth has been
heavily concentrated at the top of the income pyramid. Savings and deposits
have been concentrated among the richest 20 percent of the total population.
From 1992 the saving capacity of this group increased faster than lower-income
groups. By 2011 the richest 20 percent’s share of total saving was in the order of
80-90 percent, while the bottom 40 percent were mostly in debt. This inequity
is exaggerated by differences in access to financial services. Over a fifth of rural
households have no bank account and many rely on informal moneylenders.
Even in the middle-income ranks, few have access to the higher returns from
the capital market. Only 330,000 people are active shareholders in the stock
exchange (Sarinee, 2016).

Sustained over a long period, such variation in saving leads to concentration
of wealth. Since 2006, the biannual Household Socio-economic Survey by the
National Statistical Office (NSO) has covered wealth. These surveys show that
the distribution of wealth is even more skewed than distribution of income
(which is usually the case) with a Gini Index of around 0.7. Strikingly, there is a

5 The “capability approach” refers to an approach to welfare economics developed by Amartya
Sen and others in the 1980s. Economic policy should develop the capability of people to live more
productive and fulfilling lives. Good health, higher education, higher income, and political
freedoms are some major examples of the capabilities that should be enhanced under this
approach.

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Pasuk Phongpaichit

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