Since 1973, His Majesty the King emphasized in his royal addresses and speeches on various occasions development guidelines based on sufficiency, moderation, economizing, rationalization, and the creation of "social immunity" for the majority of the people who are in the farm sector. He cautioned the Thais not to be imprudent in conducting their lives, but to be fully aware of the development process in accordance with proper theories, and within the framework of good morality. This has become known as "Sufficiency Economy."
When the country experienced the 1997 economic crisis, His Majesty reminded the people of the need to be "self-contained." In his royal address on the eve of his birthday anniversary on 4 December 1997, His Majesty said:
In fact, I have often said… to be a tiger is not important. The important thing is for us to have a self-supporting economy. A self-supporting economy means to have enough to survive.