The Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research (PIER) organized a seminar titled “Reviewing 16 Ideas for the Lives of Thai People: Assessing Progress and Urgent Solutions.”
Experts from various fields—including education, production and agriculture, environment, law, and taxation—who co-authored the "16 Ideas for the Lives of Thai People" article series in 2023, participated in this seminar to reflect on the overall changes occurring in Thailand.
Associate Professor Dr. Weerachat Kilenthong, Director of the Research Institute for Policy Evaluation and Design at University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, explained that while education vouchers may seem extreme, they help distribute educational resources more fairly and tangibly reduce inequality.
The principle of education vouchers involves the government allocating budget per student, with funds directly tied to the student rather than transferred to schools, so that "wherever a child studies, the money follows that school."
This approach also empowers parents by reducing their expenses and expanding their choices for enrolling their children in schools.
Beyond addressing inequality in student access, Dr. Weerachat noted that most education policies are based on urban student issues but are applied uniformly nationwide.
Therefore, education policies—which often require large budgets in every government—should be founded on reliable data and research (evidence-based policies) and tested in pilot groups before nationwide implementation to avoid ineffective measures.
Dr. Weerachat concluded that Thai education currently resembles buying lottery tickets for the best classroom seats; those with more money can buy more tickets and thus have better chances. It is the role of the government and related agencies to ensure these opportunities truly reach students.
Dr. Somrasmi Chantrat, Director of PIER, stated that policies tend to promote technology adoption at the production level (farmers) but fail to connect with the midstream (cooperatives or community enterprises) and downstream (markets), resulting in incomplete support.
Regarding future product development potential, Dr. Kannika Thamphanichwong mentioned high-value agricultural products such as future foods, low-carbon agricultural products, and functional drinks. However, small businesses still face high costs for certification and standard verification.
In the past three years, global regulations have rapidly evolved, introducing trade barriers like the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and plastic packaging requirements.
Although Thailand shows a trend toward achieving Net Zero by 2050, it currently lacks climate change laws, such as a Climate Change Act, resulting in no binding mechanisms or serious carbon trading markets, leaving small players behind in the transition.
Dr. Kannika emphasized that carbon pricing is not merely a tax burden but a necessary tool to restructure costs and accelerate Thai production's adaptation to global standards.
Professor Dr. Athiphat Muthitajaroen of Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Economics pointed out that Thailand’s income-to-GDP ratio has steadily declined from about 17% to just 14–15%, while expenditures rise. Without action, fiscal burdens could reach the public debt ceiling.
He proposed three approaches: expanding the tax base by bringing the informal economy into the tax system to ensure fairness, avoiding burdening existing taxpayers. He noted that the receipt lottery policy could help attract more people into the system.
Another interesting point from Dr. Athiphat is that raising VAT is unnecessary if tax base expansion succeeds, since increasing VAT without expanding the base may unfairly affect compliant taxpayers like salaried workers.
Dr. Naran Phopattanachai, a senior legal expert at the Office of the Council of State’s Finance and Law Development Division, offered views on law development aimed at reducing costs and enhancing national competitiveness.
He explained that while people often think the problem lies in drafting Acts of Parliament, these laws generally have limited daily impact because they provide only broad frameworks. The real issues come from regulations issued by government agencies, such as licensing and document requirements, which burden citizens.
Therefore, the government should focus on reforming these agency-level rules and procedures, which can be promptly changed by the executive branch (the Cabinet) without waiting for lengthy parliamentary processes.
In the past three years, a tangible development has been increased public engagement. Notably, Thai citizens have actively provided input on laws affecting wide groups, such as social security law and comprehensive entertainment venue law, marking progressive societal context that the government should leverage.
In summary, Dr. Naran advocated for legal reforms targeting the removal of burdensome regulations that impose hidden costs on citizens and businesses, which the executive can manage without waiting for core law amendments.
This seminar served as a “policy compass” and highlighted the urgent need for structural reforms, warning that current problems will worsen if left unaddressed.
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