Poverty, income inequality, and health care consumption in Thailand

Abstract

The Thai economy has grown rapidly during the past three decades of modern industrialization. The structure of the economy has been changing from an agricultural to manufacturing based. Because industrial development policies has been biased toward Bangkok and surrounding provinces, regional income disparities have been widening. Despite the high growth record, Thailand has failed to distribute the benefits of economic growth equitably. This problem of income distribution could have many important consequences of relevance to the health of population.