CRISIS, SOCIAL SECTOR AND INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN SOME SOUTHEAST ASIAN COUNTRIES

Pundarik Mukhopadhaya

No 161, EIJS Working Paper Series from Stockholm School of Economics, The European Institute of Japanese Studies

Abstract: This paper examines the social impact of the recent Asian Economic crisis, drawing on the results of studies in two countries: Singapore and Thailand. The economic crisis had interrupted three decades of steady growth that had been accompanied by remarkable progress in poverty reduction and a betterment of social indicators like health and education. In particular, this crisis is feared to have a large negative effect on household welfare. It is found that absolute poverty became more acute in Thailand and with the wake of unemployment and decrease in real wages, income inequality increased both in Singapore and Thailand. This paper has examined the effect of crisis on other social indicators, such as school enrolments, dropouts and health. It is observed that the crisis has exposed significant limitations in the ability of social safety nets to cope with a negative shock of this magnitude, and manifested the need for better targeting to help households tide over their difficulties.

Keywords: Inequality; Gini; Social sector; Singapore; Thailand; Education; Health; Financial Crisis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D30 D63 I18 I28 I38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 45 pages
Date: 2002-10-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ifn and nep-sea
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:eijswp:0161

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