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The Decline of Property Rights in Man in Thailand, 1800–1913

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

David Feeny
David Feeny
Affiliation:
Professor of Economics and Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4M4.
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Extract

Like many land-abundant, labor-scarce economies, Thailand had a well-developed system of property rights in man. Over the nineteenth century corvée and slavery were abolished and replaced by military conscription, a head tax, and more precise property rights in land. Concomitant trends included extensive commercialization, the growth of international trade, imperialist threats to Thai sovereignty, and the growth of a centralized unitary state. Both domestic and international political motives influenced monarchs in the abolition of human-property rights. Economic change greatly facilitated these institutional changes.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 49 , Issue 2 , June 1989 , pp. 285 - 296
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1989

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References

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