Reform, Rails, and Rice: Political Railroads and Local Development in Thailand

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: New York University; New York University Abu Dhabi; Chulalongkorn University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050724000238
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 807-837
• 关键词: growth; railways; expansion; IMPACT

摘要

How do external threats to state sovereignty benefit local development? In this paper, we look at Thailand's railroad projects in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries as an example of a state's strategic response to colonial encroachment. By transporting government officials and establishing a permanent administrative presence, the railways served to ensure Thailand's sovereignty over peripheral regions and bring them under direct governance. These regions, long considered economically unviable and disconnected from Bangkok, gained rail access due to their strategic importance and, in turn, witnessed urbanization and increased agricultural production.