Energy and Economic Interaction in Thailand

The rapid rate of economic growth experienced in Thailand through the mid-1980s has been associated with an even more rapid use of energy as a factor input. This paper decomposes total change in energy into output, structural change and conservations effects. In the industrial sector, the rate of expansion in total energy inputs has been sharply reduced due to a structural change away from agricultural and manufacturing dominance and by a significant increase in the efficiency of energy use. In the household sector, the energy impacts of the expansion in the use of appliances were more than offset by the economies associated with delivered energy forms, and by other apparent adjustments in connection with higher energy costs.