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This study examines the impact of social capital on the poverty of rural households in eastern Bhutan, with a particular focus on households' participation in community groups, which can be a proxy for the structural aspect of social capital. Using a two‐stage probit least squares simultaneous equation model, the present study reveals that social capital positively contributes to poverty reduction in Bhutan. This study also finds that non‐farm income is important for poverty reduction in rural areas. Our results, however, indicate that poor households in remote areas are discouraged from participating in community groups.

It has been argued that restrictions on industrial policy implemented under World Trade Organization rules in the 2000s have greatly reduced the 'policy space' in which developing countries can promote industrialisation. This paper examines the case of Thailand's policies in developing one of the most successful automotive industries in the Southeast Asian region. We show that Thailand's use of local content requirements, later abolished under WTO rules, helped promote local suppliers and did not deter foreign investors. Substantial tariff protection of vehicles and components production did not deter exports, and has continued to the present, even under liberalisation policies. Supplementing tariff protection by various fiscal means to promote product champions in the automotive industry, Thailand has succeeded in retaining substantial policy freedom.

This article examines the competitiveness of Cambodia's garment export industry, on which the country's recent and successful economic development has depended to an unusually heavy extent. Using primary interviews and drawing on a wide range of secondary sources, it documents how Cambodia was drawn into garment global value chains, based almost entirely on inward investment. Despite its expansion in the face of strong Chinese competition, since the end of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing in December 2004, the industry remains vulnerable as a result of deficient infrastructure, labour unrest, official corruption and the absence of an adequate domestic textile industry, all of which serve to diminish its attractiveness to global buyers.Cet article a pour but d 0 examiner la compe´titivite´de l 0 industrie d 0 exportation du veˆtement au Cambodge, dont le de´veloppement e´conomique re´cent du pays a e´te´particulie`rement de´pendent. À partir d 0 entretiens primaires ainsi que diverses sources secondaires, nous montrons comment le Cambodge s 0 est inse´re´dans les chaıˆnes de valeur internationales de la confection en s 0 appuyant presque entie`rement sur des investissements internes. Malgre´une croissance e´conomique qui en de´pit de la forte concurrence chinoise se poursuit depuis la fin de l 0 Accord sur les Textiles et les Veˆtements, en de´cembre 2004, l 0 industrie reste vulne´rable en raison d 0 infrastructures de´ficientes, de conditions ouvrie`res instables, de la corruption ainsi que de la faiblesse de l 0 industrie domestique du textile, qui sont tous des facteurs qui nuisent a`son attractivite´aupre`s des investisseurs internationaux.

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