TDRI QUARTERLY REVIEW

Volume 36, No. 04, Month DECEMBER, Year 2021, Pages 13 - 24

Redesigning thailand’s social protection system leaving no one behind

Phakphum Jatupitpornchan, Trisorn Thirachiwanon, Supachai Sompol, Nitchakarn Kaewbuadee

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A social protection system is an essential element to the economic and social development of a nation. One distinctive feature of social protection is that it enhances development by using a human-centered approach, by protecting people from various risks, promoting their potential to grow, and helping those in vulnerable situations. Many key issues in Thailand — inequality, population aging, and the middle-income trap — can be directly linked to failures in human development and can thus be solved by improving the social protection system. We believe that Thailand cannot afford to delay reforming its social protection system any longer as the aforementioned issues have been crippling Thailand’s development for too long. For human-centered development to be effective, one basic principle is that not one person should be left behind by the social protection system, which seems not to be the case in Thailand as the current social protection system continues to have a significant level of exclusion error, meaning that many Thais are still being left behind. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the need for reform, as the pandemic has exacerbated the issue of chronic poverty and left an education scar on the young generation. If these “scars” are left unattended, progress in human development will be further impeded. The arguments are elaborated and supported with evidence below.

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