During Thailand's economic development, the shares of output and employment in agriculture have been consistently higher than in other countries at the same level of income. There are push and pull factors for labor transformation. This paper demonstrates that the slow transformation from rural to urban economy is the result of the agricultural trap, which keeps agrarian labor inside the farm sector. In addition to the lack of public investment in human capital, extremely wasteful farm subsidies have weakened the natural process of structural transformation. Farm subsidies encourage land expansion, which usually lags behind commodity booms, resulting in the excess supply of farm products. In turn, when commodity prices collapse, excess supply perpetuates further subsidies and emboldens the pork barrel activities of incumbent governments.

中文翻译：

---

商品价格周期、农业陷阱和泰国的持续补贴

在泰国经济发展过程中，农业在产出和就业中的占比一直高于同等收入水平的其他国家。劳动力转型有推动和拉动因素。本文论证了从农村到城市经济的缓慢转变是农业陷阱的结果，它将农业劳动力留在了农业部门中。除了人力资本公共投资不足之外，极其浪费的农业补贴削弱了结构转型的自然过程。农业补贴鼓励土地扩张，这通常滞后于商品繁荣，导致农产品供应过剩。反过来，当大宗商品价格暴跌时，供应过剩会使进一步的补贴长期存在，并鼓励现任政府的猪肉桶活动。