Income Distribution, Poverty and Economic Crisis in Southeast Asia

本研究的目的是(1)分析亚洲经济危机的影响,1997年7月开始由泰铢贬值对收入分配和贫困在东南亚国家和(2)调查统计制度,充分和及时的捕捉收入分配和贫困的情况,估计他们初步和有限的数据,以便形成经济和社会政策来缓解贫困以及日益加剧的收入不均。在发生货币危机和经济危机的泰国，从1986年开始每两年进行一次家庭社会经济调查。通过这些数据可以分析泰国泡沫经济产生的原因，以及危机后收入分配和贫困的变化。1999年的调查数据是不定期进行的，揭示了从城市到农村的人口迁移等结构性变化。这种影响是通过地区收入差距来分析的。除了泰国，我们还分析了菲律宾、印度尼西亚、马来西亚、新加坡和老挝的收入分配和贫困状况。对于那些接受国际货币基金组织援助的国家来说，统计的透明度非常高，分析是用公开的数据进行的。然而，那些不接受的国家，如马来西亚，不愿意向公众公开统计数据，可能是担心这会使政治局势不稳定。尽管信息有限，但由于收入分布的特点，我们可以估计收入分布。本研究中进行的一些分析是基于初步数据或对某些变量的估计。因此，当出现新的数据或修订的数据时，本研究的结果将被重新检验。

The aims of this study are (1) to analyze the impact of the Asian economic crises that started in July 1997 by the devaluation of Thai baht on income distribution and poverty in Southeast Asian countries and (2) to investigate the statistical system that adequately and timely capture the situation of income distribution and poverty and to estimate them with preliminary and limited data so that economic and social policies are formed to relieve the poverty as well as worsening income inequality.In Thailand where the currency and economic crises started, household socio-economic survey has been conducted every two years since 1986. With these data the causes that brought about the bubble economy to Thailand, the changes in income distribution and poverty after the crisis can be analyzed. The survey data of 1999, which was conducted irregularly, revealed the structural change such as migration from urban to rural areas. This impact was analyzed by the regional income disparity.Beside Thailand, we analyzed the situation of income distribution and poverty for the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Laos. For those countries that accepted the aid from IMF the transparency of statistics is very high and the analysis was conducted with published data. However, those countries that did not accepted such as Malaysia are not willing to make statistics open to general public, maybe with a fear that it makes the political situation unstable. Even though the information is limited, we can estimate the income distribution because the characteristics of the distribution of income.Some of the analyses conducted in this study are based on preliminary data or estimation of some variables. Therefore the results of this study will be re-examined when new data or revised data will appear.