| Since July of 1997, Thailand has been experiencing an economic downturn. There remains a lack of understanding as to the effects of the downturn on the lives of individual Thais, particularly regarding health and education. Negative effects on these aspects of social welfare may lead to negative long-term consequences for individuals and for the country as a whole. An individual's access to health and education services likely depends upon the particular situation of that individual in the context of their country of residence, specifically depending upon the characteristics of the individual, the nature of the crisis, and the government's ability to provide these services. Access to these social services may also be quite selective based upon the level and type of service desired.; This dissertation provides systematic evidence of the short-term effects of the economic downturn on reproductive health care services, educational enrollment, and fertility limiting behavior in Thailand. Regarding education, I examine adolescent enrollment at the secondary and tertiary level using data from the Labor Force Survey, 1995--1998. I then examine the government's provision of reproductive health services. I examine the effects of the crisis on Thailand's reproductive health policy and its implementation at all levels of administration in three provinces of Thailand as perceived by providers and administrators using qualitative data. I also examine the relationship between the economic downturn and Thai women's use of contraception and willingness to abort with closed-ended interviews with married women aged 15--39 from a purposive sample from three provinces of Thailand in both rural and urban areas.; Although there has been much speculation regarding the negative effects of the recent economic downturn in Southeast Asia, I found only small changes in two of my measures of social well-being: educational enrollment and reproductive health care services provision. I then found only a weak relationship between the economic downturn and my measures of fertility limiting behavior. Since I measure short-term change, however, we must recognize that if these small effects or weak relationships are not addressed, it is possible that long-term consequences will result. |
