HU Development Accounting for Laos vs Thailand Discussion

 The midterm paper will:

– Select one developing country ( Mainly focus on Laos and use Thailand to compare) 

– Provide a concise overview of the country’s main real economic characteristics focusing on recent data on GDP per capita at PPP and other characteristics such as population, sectoral composition, predominant economic system, economic policies of current political regime, recent salient economic events.

– Use recent macroeconomic aggregate statistics to perform development accounting for that country, e.g. account for its aggregate income-per-capita difference a relevant benchmark country, in as many years as data allow. In practice this may be the last two or three decades. Ideally the benchmark country should have around twice the GDP per capita as the country you chose, though this doesn’t have to be exact. The closer are the two countries in income, the more informative the development accounting will be.

– Identify at least three policies that are relevant for the country’s current or future growth prospects. Describe these policies saying briefly how you think they will affect the macroeconomic development your country.