publications

Technical Reports

2023

1. 2023 DINA Update for Asia

   Nitin Kumar Bharti, Sehyun Hong, Thanasak Jenmana, and Zhexun mo

   Aug 2023

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2020

1. 2020 DINA Update for Asia

   Thanasak Jenmana, Rowaida Moshrif, and Li Yang

   Aug 2020

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2. Decomposing Preference for Redistribution Beyond the Trans-Atlantic Perspective

   Ryo Kambayashi, Sébastien Lechevalier, and Thanasak Jenmana

   Jun 2020

   An earlier version of this paper has been published here : https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02497274v1

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   There are significant differences across countries in terms of redistribution by the government. This corresponds to underlying dissimilarities in preference for redistribution. Particularly, previous literature compared the US and Europe and proposed several explanations of these differences, from aggregation of individual determinants (e.g. one’s income) to more holistic ones such as shared values at the national level (i.e. social beliefs). This paper, therefore, aims to analyse the impact of socio-demographic factors and social beliefs on preference for redistribution. First, we focused on two different dimensions of preference —the government’s role in reducing the difference in income and the approach of the tax system with high income. Secondly, we extended the comparison by including a developed Asian country, Japan. Based on the results, the following two attitudes are not fully compatible: many people support the governmental intervention, but not for more tax on the rich, especially in Japan. Furthermore, the difference in the attitude on the governmental intervention mainly comes from the variance in the role of social beliefs. On the other hand, the average income and wealth do not explain the difference in preference. Countries are characterized by different social beliefs, which affects the differences in sub-preferences. However, not only the distribution of social beliefs, but also their statistical relation to the sub-preferences explains the country level disparity. In addition, the US and Europe comparison under/over-estimates these statistical associations in the world, since an Asian country, such as Japan, may have a different structure.

2019

1. Extreme Inequality, Democratisation and Class Struggles in Thailand

   Thanasak Jenmana, and Amory Gethin

   Jun 2019

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   Thailand is finally set to have a general election on 24 March 2019 after five years of military government and a long period of political uncertainty. In this note, we argue that a main source of political instability is brought by Thai- land’s extreme levels of income, wealth and regional inequalities, as well as by the rising politicisation of class conflicts around redistributive issues which followed the Asian Financial Crisis. New historical series on inequality in Thailand point to very high levels of income concentration. In 2016, top 10% earners received more than half of the national income, which is higher than what can be observed in most world regions. The social policies implemented by successive democratic govern- ments since the 2000s have been successful at promoting a fairer distribution of labour earnings. Inequalities remain high, however, due to the strong concentration of wealth and capital incomes, which are not addressed by existing fiscal policies. The post-1997 party politics successfully put an end to a long period of ris- ing income disparities. Most importantly, they have been associated with the emergence of class cleavages visible in voting behaviours and party identifica- tion. These are conflicts opposing the established middle class and elites, who lost their relative economic and political power, to the poor and the emerging middle class who have benefited from a new and fairer economic era and put strong values on general elections.

2018

1. Democratisation and the Emergence of Class Conflict: Income Inequality in Thailand, 2001-2016

   Thanasak Jenmana

   Nov 2018

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   This paper re-examines the dynamics of income inequality in Thailand between 2001 and 2016. The main motivation lies in the lack of information on the richest citizens in household surveys, which can lead to a significant underestimation of the inequality level and to an inaccurate representation of the historical trend. We combined household surveys, fiscal data, and national accounts to create a more consistent inequality series. Our results indicate that income inequality is much higher than what past surveys have suggested, specificallywhen looking at the reduction in inequality, which turns to be much more conservative. The top 10% income share went from 56% of national income in 2001 to 53% in 2016, and the bottom 50% share increased from 9% to 13%. The Gini coefficient decreased by 0.06, reaching 0.62 in 2016. The income of each generalised percentiles are also decomposed into labour and capital income, in which we observe the higher importance of capital income in the top 1% only. These observed dynamics can be put into perspective using recent political conflicts in Thailand, where a strong anti-democratic sentiment has risen within the middle and upper social classes. In line with recent works, we argue that the shifting economic power towards the bottom 50% led to the strong reaction from the middle class, who had benefited more economically during the second half of the 19th century. Using CSES data, it is briefly shown that there has been a rise of class cleavages in Thai politics from 2001 and on, reflecting these patterns.

2017

1. Google: espace politique, espace de préoccupations

   Yann Algan, Elizabeth Beasley, Amory Gethin, Thanasak Jenmana, and Claudia Senik

   Nov 2017

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   Au regard des résultats de l’élection présidentielle de 2017 se pose aujourd’hui la question du lien entre certains facteurs socioéconomiques et idéologiques et la montée des partis extrêmes en France. Quelles sont les problématiques actuelles les plus représentatives de l’échiquier politique français ? Dans cette courte note, nous suggérons que les recherches internet pour des partis politiques sont liées à des préoccupations contemporaines bien spé cifiques. Plus pré cisé ment, le Front National est plus souvent associé à des thématiques relatives à l’islamophobie, au terrorisme, et au mal-être, tandis que les recherches sur des partis d’extrême gauche sont concomitantes de problématiques économiques et environnementales. Derrière ces associations, cependant,secachentdesdivergencesrégionalesmajeures.Lesdynamiquesde recherches Google ré vè lent, en outre, la monté e du Front National et la profonde transformation à l’\oeuvre dans le milieu politique français.

2. Du Mal-être au vote extrême

   Amory Gethin, and Thanasak Jenmana

   Sep 2017

   Note d’analyse de l’Observatoire du Bien-être du CEPREMAP

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   La montée du populisme et l’échec des partis traditionnels à l’élection présidentielle de 2017 remettent en question la pertinence des déterminants traditionnels du vote. Dans le contexte économique difficile du quinquennat Hollande, dans quelle mesure la montée du pessimisme en France a-t-elle nourri le vote contestataire ? Les enquêtes disponibles révèlent deux phénomènes marquants : d’une part, les extrêmes du spectre politique, et surtout l’extrême-droite, se distinguent par un niveau de mal-être et de pessimisme particulièrement fort, et qui ne s’explique pas entièrement par les caractéristiques sociales de cet électorat ; d’autre part, la différence de bonheur entre électeurs d’extrême gauche et électeurs d’extrême droite a évolué, surtout depuis le début des années 2010 : les électeurs les plus malheureux se situent désormais plus souvent à l’extrême droite qu’à l’extrême gauche.

Book Chapters

2021

1. Democratization and the Construction of Class Cleavages in Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, 1992–2019

   Amory Gethin, and Thanasak Jenmana

   In A Study of Fifty Democracies, 1948–2020, Sep 2021

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2. รายได้ของทุนและแรงงานกับความเหลื่อมล้ำทางเศรษฐกิจของไทย: ความเข้าใจต่อช่องว่างระหว่างข้อมูลระดับจุลภาคและมหภาคด้านรายได้และทรัพย์สิน

   Thanasak Jenmana

   In โครงการ Social Monitoring Project: สถานการณ์ความเหลื่อมล้ำในประเทศไทย, Sep 2021

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