INCOME DISTRIBUTION AND THE MEDIUM-TERM TREND OF INEQUALITY IN THAILAND

Income distribution in Thailand has become the central issue due to the unequal distribution between modern and agricultural sector especially in the poorest Northeast which has the greatest number of agricultural household among regions. The hypothesis on inequality which has been discussed widely is the Kuznets inverted U- curve hypothesis that income inequality increases in the early stage of economic development and decreases in the later stage. The inequality trend in the medium-term showed the downward trend after the peak of inequality in 1992. This could imply a development of Thai economy. However, income distribution and regional inequality are still problematic. Furthermore, although agricultural sector has an important role for Thai economy, the agricultural wage is still low, 2.61 and 1.69 times lower than the service and production sectors respectively. This research mainly focuses on the results of field survey in Mahasarakham and Kalasin provinces in the Northeast of Thailand. It is important to know the opinions of the people in the most unequal region. As field survey, people still would like to be supported from the government in terms of income more than other aspects but it is difficult to distribute enough support thoroughly. On the contrary, many people are satisfied with their living and not affected by the limitation of income. Moreover, gathering the group to support members could help to improve their living and without waiting only government’s support.