IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v30y2012i5p891-909.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Divergent Pathways of Development: A Comparative Case Study of Human Well-Being in Two Thai Provinces

Author

Listed:
  • Sarah Parks

    (Department of Economics, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 110 8th Street, Troy, NY 12180, USA)

Abstract

Over the last two decades there has been a growing interest in shifting the political focus from gross domestic product as an indicator of well-being to more pluralistic concepts. Correspondingly, approaches to development have also evolved. A case study of two neighboring Thai provinces, Samut Sakhon and Samut Songkhram, provides a means to examine divergent development pathways and the resulting differences in well-being. Samut Sakhon was influenced by traditional economic forces. By contrast, the United Nations Development Programme cited Samut Songkhram as a “showcase of the sufficiency economy†, although the extent to which the sufficiency economy philosophy was deliberately applied is unclear. Today, the gross provincial product is much higher in Samut Sakhon, but Samut Songkhram ranks higher on the human achievement index (HAI). In comparison with traditional economic indicators, the HAI provides a more realistic depiction of the provinces; however, the index has shortcomings in regards to social and environmental issues.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Parks, 2012. "Divergent Pathways of Development: A Comparative Case Study of Human Well-Being in Two Thai Provinces," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 30(5), pages 891-909, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:30:y:2012:i:5:p:891-909
    DOI: 10.1068/c1165r
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/c1165r
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/c1165r?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ming-Chang Tsai, 2011. "If GDP is Not the Answer, What is the Question? The Juncture of Capabilities, Institutions and Measurement in the Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi Report," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 102(3), pages 363-372, July.
    2. Heinz-Herbert Noll, 2011. "The Stiglitz-Sen-Fitoussi-Report: Old Wine in New Skins? Views from a Social Indicators Perspective," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 111-116, May.
    3. Michael Hagerty & Robert Cummins & Abbott Ferriss & Kenneth Land & Alex Michalos & Mark Peterson & Andrew Sharpe & Joseph Sirgy & Joachim Vogel, 2001. "Quality of Life Indexes for National Policy: Review and Agenda for Research," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 1-96, July.
    4. Alex Michalos, 2011. "What Did Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi Get Right and What Did They Get Wrong?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 117-129, May.
    5. Rodrik, Dani, 2008. "The New Development Economics: We Shall Experiment, but How Shall We Learn?," Working Paper Series rwp08-055, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
    6. Clarke, Matthew & Islam, Sardar M.N., 2005. "Diminishing and negative welfare returns of economic growth: an index of sustainable economic welfare (ISEW) for Thailand," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 81-93, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Delhey, Jan & Steckermeier, Leonie C., 2016. "The Good Life, Affluence, and Self-reported Happiness: Introducing the Good Life Index and Debunking Two Popular Myths," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 50-66.
    2. Valerie Møller & Benjamin J. Roberts, 2017. "South African Hopes and Fears Twenty Years into Democracy: A Replication of Hadley Cantril’s Pattern of Human Concerns," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 39-69, January.
    3. Edmund Byrne, 2014. "Towards Enforceable Bans on Illicit Businesses: From Moral Relativism to Human Rights," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(1), pages 119-130, January.
    4. Alex C. Michalos & P. Maurine Hatch, 2020. "Good Societies, Financial Inequality and Secrecy, and a Good Life: from Aristotle to Piketty," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(4), pages 1005-1054, September.
    5. Valerie Møller, 2013. "South African Quality of Life Trends Over Three Decades, 1980–2010," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 915-940, September.
    6. Heinz-Herbert Noll, 2018. "Social Monitoring and Reporting: A Success Story in Applied Research on Social Indicators and Quality of Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 951-964, February.
    7. Jeroen Boelhouwer, 2018. "The Social Indicators Movement at 50: Onwards in Unity or Divided?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 1027-1033, February.
    8. Melanie T. Davern & Lucy Gunn & Billie Giles-Corti & Stephanie David, 2017. "Best Practice Principles for Community Indicator Systems and a Case Study Analysis: How Community Indicators Victoria is Creating Impact and Bridging Policy, Practice and Research," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 131(2), pages 567-586, March.
    9. Kenneth C. Land & Alex C. Michalos, 2018. "Fifty Years After the Social Indicators Movement: Has the Promise Been Fulfilled?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 835-868, February.
    10. Valerie Møller, 2018. "Whatever Happened to Social Indicators in Africa? Whatever Happened Indeed! A Developing World Perspective on the Kenneth C. Land and Alex C. Michalos Report on ‘Fifty Years After the Social Indicator," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 135(3), pages 1009-1019, February.
    11. Dominique BONET FERNANDEZ & Isabelle PETIT & Agnès LANCINI, 2014. "L’Economie Circulaire : Quelles Mesures De La Performance Economique, Environnementale Et Sociale," Working Papers 2014-232, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    12. David K. Evans & Arkadipta Ghosh, 2008. "Prioritizing Educational Investments in Children in the Developing World," Working Papers WR-587, RAND Corporation.
    13. Sylvester Ngome Chisika & Chunho Yeom, 2021. "Enhancing Sustainable Management of Public Natural Forests Through Public Private Partnerships in Kenya," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, October.
    14. M. Sirgy, 2011. "Theoretical Perspectives Guiding QOL Indicator Projects," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 103(1), pages 1-22, August.
    15. Claudia Salceanu & Mariana Floricica Calin, 2022. "The Pandemic Context and Quality of Life for Youth in Constanta County," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 27(1), pages 687-696, January.
    16. Hu, Shu & Das, Dhiman, 2019. "Quality of life among older adults in China and India: Does productive engagement help?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 229(C), pages 144-153.
    17. Baruce C. Rudy, 2014. "The Wal-Mart Effect? Exploring the Social Costs of Explosive Organizational Growth," Working Papers 0191mgmt, College of Business, University of Texas at San Antonio.
    18. Baylis, Kathy & Ham, Andres, 2015. "How important is spatial correlation in randomized controlled trials?," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205586, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Akinori Kitsuki & Shunsuke Managi, 2023. "Importance Weighting in Subjective Well-Being Measures: Using Marginal Utilities as Weights for Domain Satisfaction," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 1101-1120, March.
    20. Florent Bédécarrats & Isabelle Guérin & François Roubaud, 2015. "The gold standard for randomized evaluations: from discussion of method to political economy," Working Papers DT/2015/01, DIAL (Développement, Institutions et Mondialisation).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:30:y:2012:i:5:p:891-909. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.