It simply implies that Thai manufactured exports have not
matured. According to one empirical study, if we disaggregate sources of growth on the
demand side into three categories; domestic demand, import substitution and export demand,
domestic demand between 1960 to 1970 contributed 89.1 per cent to economic growth, with
11.4 per cent stemming from export demand and the rest –0.6 from import substitution.
However, it is argued that international trade has played a decisive role in the transformation
of Thai economy since the mid-1980s.