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Do Agricultural Debt Moratoriums Help or Hurt? The Heterogenous Impacts on Rural Households in Thailand

Author

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  • Lathaporn Ratanavararak
  • Sommarat Chantarat

Abstract

Majority of Thai agricultural households have been at risk of trapping in persistent debt problems, which could in turn impede their development prospects. Over the past decade, debt moratoriums have been one of the most extensive policies aiming to help Thai agricultural households – resulting in 41.4% of households being in debt moratoriums for more than 4 years. This paper estimates the impacts of agricultural debt moratoriums on households’ debt, saving and agricultural investment dynamics using a unique panel data of 1 million representative households nationwide. We found that while the debt moratoriums could decrease delinquency propensity for the other loans that do not enroll, they significantly resulted in higher debt accumulation, especially among those with medium debt and those with higher participation intensity. The moratoriums had no significant impact on saving, while could increase agricultural investment for certain groups of borrowers. The findings imply that design of Thailand’s popular debt moratoriums should be revisited, especially they should be more targeted and limited to short-term relief.

Suggested Citation

  • Lathaporn Ratanavararak & Sommarat Chantarat, 2022. "Do Agricultural Debt Moratoriums Help or Hurt? The Heterogenous Impacts on Rural Households in Thailand," PIER Discussion Papers 195, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:pui:dpaper:195
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sumit Agarwal & Gene Amromin & Itzhak Ben-David & Souphala Chomsisengphet & Tomasz Piskorski & Amit Seru, 2017. "Policy Intervention in Debt Renegotiation: Evidence from the Home Affordable Modification Program," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 125(3), pages 654-712.
    2. Christopher Mayer & Edward Morrison & Tomasz Piskorski & Arpit Gupta, 2014. "Mortgage Modification and Strategic Behavior: Evidence from a Legal Settlement with Countrywide," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(9), pages 2830-2857, September.
    3. Rucker, Randal R & Alston, Lee J, 1987. "Farm Failures and Government Intervention: A Case Study of the 1930' s," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(4), pages 724-730, September.
    4. Alston, Lee J, 1984. "Farm Foreclosure Moratorium Legislation: A Lesson from the Past," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 445-457, June.
    5. Saptarshi Mukherjee & Krishnamurthy Subramanian & Prasanna Tantri, 2018. "Borrowers' Distress and Debt Relief: Evidence from a Natural Experiment," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(4), pages 607-635.
    6. Martin Kanz, 2016. "What Does Debt Relief Do for Development? Evidence from India's Bailout for Rural Households," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 66-99, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sommarat Chantarat & Chayanee Chawanote & Lathaporn Ratanavararak & Chonnakan Rittinon & Boontida Sa-ngimnet & Narongrit Adultananusak, 2023. "Financial Lives and the Vicious Cycle of Debt among Thai Agricultural Households," PIER Discussion Papers 204, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Farmer debt; Household debt; Debt moratorium; Debt relief; Debt accumulation; Agriculture; Thailand;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G51 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Household Savings, Borrowing, Debt, and Wealth
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets
    • Q14 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Finance
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

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