No abstract

Even though there are a number of previous studies investigating the underperformance of female-led firms as compared to male-led ones, none have investigated the impact of women as heads of firms in terms of short-term performance (sales and profit) and long-term development (innovation and training). Using 1,043 manufacturing firms in Thailand as a case study of a developing country in which the proportion of women chief executive officers (CEOs) is the highest among the Southeast Asian countries, this article investigates the impact of female CEOs on both short-term performance and long-term firm development. Even though the number of women in the manufacturing sector is limited, women CEOs of Thai manufacturing companies are found to have a negative effect on both short-term financial performance indicators, including the annual sales and profits, as well as long-term development of firm indicators (product innovation, process innovation, and provision of employee training). However, this negative association of short-term financial performance is weaker in the case of women CEOs who have completed college. In addition, more experienced women CEOs are more likely to provide employee training. Promoting highly educated and experienced women in management positions as well as providing them with training should be a priority in order to enhance the short-term and long-term performances of their companies.

In the past decade or two, an increasing number of migrants from countries neighbouring Thailand have moved to Thailand temporarily or permanently in search for jobs and life security, causing an increase in the labour supply in the Thai labour market. This paper attempts to find the economic contribution of these migrant workers to Thailand using various data sources and a collection of related findings. We find that capital gains from migrant workers show an increasing trend from around 0.03 per cent of the real national income (880 million baht) in 1995 to around 0.055 per cent of the real national income (2,039 million baht) in 2005. Using the adjusted labour share, the net contribution of migrant workers is on average 0.023 per cent of the real national income per year, or around 760 million baht per year.

Several research papers have assessed the long-term benefits of pre-primary education in terms of academic performance and labor market outcomes. This study analyzes data obtained from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to estimate the effects of preschool enrollment of Thai students on producing long-term benefits in their academic performance. Results show that a mother’s educational attainment has a significant impact on the decision to enroll her child in preschool. Regarding the long-term benefits, our findings show that pre-primary education bears a significant and positive association with cognitive skills in all three areas of literacy tested under PISA, namely, reading, mathematics, and sciences. Regarding the economic status of students’ families, results indicate that the benefits of pre-primary education in cognitive skill improvement tend to be greatest in the case of students from low- to middle-income families. Evidence supports the promotion of long-term benefits of pre-primary education and, thus, the universal early childhood education policy. In particular, support should be given to childhood education programmes that specifically target children from disadvantaged groups and low-income households.

No abstract