It remains open to question whether rising
income inequality and low real wages in the rural areas can be resolved through laissez-faire
policy. In addition, both import-substituting and export-oriented industrial sectors centered in
Bangkok (see Santikarn Kaosa-ard, 1992; UNIDO, 1992) have not been able to absorb much
labour from the rural sector. An attempt in the 1980s to restructure the Thai economy seemed
to offer little stimulus to industrial labour absorption (see Ezaki, 1990; Watanabe, 1992).