This site contains a variety of databases for Thailand and a number of models that can be used to understand the Thai economy. These can be used as an integrated research and advisory tool for academics and policy makers. The data include microeconomic data on households and firms as well as macroeconomic data from the Bank of Thailand and the National Economic and Social Development Bureau (NESDB). Intermediate between these two are village-level data from the Community Development Department (CDD) and provincial level domestic product data from the NESDB.

The purpose of having multiple data sources readily available and easily accessible is to further research on the microeconomic foundations of the macro economy, that is, to develop microeconomic and macroeconomic models, ideally combining the two. Specifically, these data can be used to construct and estimate general equilibrium models with impediments to trade and with heterogeneity across households and firms. The user can choose the appropriate degree of aggregation of the microeconomic data, or go back and forth between micro and macro. Indeed, this archive facilitates fact-finding missions. Several of the individual databases have automated search and data extraction facilities. Several of the microdata files include geographic identifiers at the plot, village, sub-county (tambon), county (amphoe), or province (changwat) level, thus enabling use of an accompanying Geographic Information System.

The larger goal of this web-based archive is to facilitate the integration of theory with measurement. Frequently the data a theorist might need to calibrate or estimate a model is not available in the single database on hand, hence the inclusion of multiple databases here. Frequently, the necessary data are not available at all. That is, existing surveys do not include variables critical to theoretical models. For example, until recently, there were no longitudinal data for Thailand. A key component of this website is a panel database derived from micro surveys designed from a theoretical perspective. This collection, know as the Townsend Thai Project, is available from this site. The other databases Related Thai data are also available.

The project was funded primarily by US government foundations, specifically, the National Institute of Health (NICHD) and the National Science Foundation (NSF), with Robert M. Townsend as principal investigator. Grants from the Ford Foundation, Melon Foundati on and the University of Chicago are also gratefully acknowledged.

Papers and publications that use the data available in this archive and describe the details of the models are also available from this site, along with professional abstracts and executive summaries for policy makers. Additionally, a Theoretical Overview is available.