The Competitiveness of Thailand: Economic Analysis from Competitiveness Reports

Abstract

An important question for researchers and policy markers is how to efficiently allocate limited resources for sustainable economic growth. In this paper, Global Competitiveness Reports of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the World Competitiveness Yearbooks of the International Institute for Management Development (IMD) have to been used to identify important strengths and important weaknesses of Thailand. Important strengths and weaknesses are identified based on two criterions. First criterion is the contribution or the weight of each factor in the national competitiveness score. The contribution of each factor can be determined statistically; however, not without difficulty. The second criterion is the ranking among a group of countries. Factors that have both high contribution and good ranking are important strengths while factors that have both high contribution and bad ranking are important weaknesses. Relying on the subcomponents of the national competitiveness statistics, the strengths of Thailand lie in its big market size, strong labor market conditions and good infrastructure system. However, the weaknesses of Thailand lie in its poor health-related factors, technological readiness, and institutions. Finally, we provide some recommendation on how to improve the national competitiveness of Thailand at present and in the future.