“Beyond Static Inequality: Public Policies and Economic Mobility in Thailand”

The purpose of this thesis is to understand economic mobility in the context of a developing economy and the role that social protection programs have played in promoting economic mobility. Thailand serves as a case study to explore this research objective. The study establishes causality linking participation in certain social protection programs which, in theory, have the potential to overcome mobility constraints including vocational training, microcredit and social pension, and changes in mobility outcomes by means of various impact evaluation methods.  Results suggest that in practice, only the social pension program is found to impact beneficiaries along the outcome dimensions considered. The thesis concludes that the implementation of social protection programs alone does not necessarily remove binding constraints to upward mobility. Program design and details of implementation matter.