Economic Linkages among Border Provinces in the South of the Lower Northeastern Region

Abstract

The research aimed 1) to study production structures in the border areas in the south of the Lower Northeastern Region and 2) to be guidelines used to analyze production activities affecting economy in the Lower Northeastern Region by using the Input-Output Table (I-O Table) in each area used to study. The study areas consisted of Buriram, Surin, Si Sa Ket, and Ubon Ratchathani. All of the study areas were organized based on the importance of the economic activities. The study was divided into 4 procedures. The first procedure was to prepare the I-O Table with 58 production activities in the study areas by using cutting and adding economic group methods related to the economic structures in the study areas. The second procedure was to calculate the proportion of the location by using the Simple Location Quotient (SLQ) to approximate the coefficient. The third procedure was to find the coefficient of the direct and indirect production of the study areas by using the RAS method based on the values of the table in the first procedure that were adjusted by SLQ from the second procedure. The results of the value adjustment would give the coefficient of the study areas. The fourth procedure was to find the results of the economic forward and backward linkages from the coefficient production table of the study areas and organize the important priorities of the production fields.

The research findings were as follows.

1. The production structures of each province were similar. They consisted of the production activities organized from the highest to the lowest values in each province, namely, 1) services, 2) agriculture/trades, and 3) finance and insurance, respectively. Meanwhile, the non-value production activities combined with the production of tobacco, transportation equipment, and petroleum products.
2. The highest effects of the production activities towards the economy in the Lower Northeastern Region based on the multiplier effects of the forward and backward linkages and the production values in each area were found that the production activities appropriate to promote in the areas were 1) agriculture: rice farming, livestock, sugar cane and cassava farming, 2) finance and insurance, and 3) services.

Keyword: Economic Linkages, Input-Output Table, Simple Location Quotient, Forward Linkage, Backward Linkage