An Analysis of Factors Affecting the Role of United States\u27 Private Investment in Thailand\u27s Economic Growth

This study is an attempt to assess the present and potential importance of United States private investments as a force in simulating economic development in Thailand. Thailand has been used as a case study because it has strong military and economic ties with the United States, it is located in a highly strategic area regarding overall United States foreign policy, it has established a policy of actively seeking foreign private investments in its economy, and the author has some familiarity with the overall situation there as a result of having spent two years in Thailand as an agricultural technical advisor employed by the International Cooperation Administration of the United States Department of State. The case study is United States private investments has been used because while private investments of other countries are welcomed in Thailand, the private business community in the United States has been the principal target as an investment source. This is due not only to the fact that the private business community of the United States has large investment capital and highly developed technology, but also because of the overall leadership of the United States in the Free World which tends to spotlight it as a principal investment source for developing countries. The United States Government, through its Foreign Aid programs, has concentrated heavily on a policy of encouraging private enterprises as a basis for achieving economic growth in the economically under-developed countries such as Thailand. Thailand, for its part, has also established policies and programs designed to attract both domestic and foreign private investments as method of accelerating its economic growth. The importance of this study lies in providing some insight into the factors, economic and otherwise, which affect the degree of success that these efforts will have in attracting United States’ private investments to Thailand of the amount and type it needs in its economic development. While each country differs in respect to its ability to attract and utilize foreign investments in its development, it is hoped that some of the information gained can have some general application to other developing countries, particularly those in the Southeast Asia