Alleviating social and economic inequality? The role of social enterprises in Thailand

What is it about?

Social Enterprises are often seen as a way to balance social and business goals. In Thailand they have been encouraged as a way to reduce high levels of wealth inequality and an ingrained patronage culture. It uses public documents but a selection of case study Social Enterprises to demonstrate how they tackle inequality. While the Thai government has been slow to embed processes to encourage new social enterprises, we show that they reduce inequality as they work with rural citizens to increase their employment and incomes. We also develop a framework outlining SEs’ roles and interventions to reduce inequality. This may be useful to other developing countries, in developing policies to combat inequality.

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Why is it important?

There are high inequalities in income and opportunities in Thailand. Initiatives to reduce these should be welcomed. We show examples of social enterprises that are working towards empowering people to increase their income and realise opportunities.

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