Editing Economy of Thailand (section)

====1945–1955====
Postwar domestic and international politics played significant roles in Thai economic development for most of the Cold War era. From 1945 to 1947 (when the Cold War had not yet begun), the Thai economy suffered because of the Second World War. During the war, the Thai government (led by Field Marshal [[Plaek Phibunsongkhram|Luang Phibulsongkram]]) allied with Japan and declared war against the Allies. After the war, Thailand had to supply 1.5 million tons of rice to Western countries without charge, a burden on the country's economic recovery. The government tried to solve the problem by establishing a rice office to oversee the rice trade. During this period, a multiple-exchange-rate system was introduced amid fiscal problems, and the kingdom experienced a shortage of consumer goods.<ref name="Nilnopkoon">{{cite web| last=Nilnopkoon|first=Somsak|title=Abstract| url=http://www.thapra.lib.su.ac.th/objects/thesis/fulltext/snamcn/Somsak_Nilnopkoon/Fulltext.pdf|work=The Thai Economic Problems After the Second World War and the Government Strategies in Dealing with Them|publisher=Silpakorn University|access-date=25 August 2012}}</ref>

In November 1947, a brief democratic period was ended by a military coup and the Thai economy regained its momentum. In his dissertation, Somsak Nilnopkoon considers the period from 1947 to 1951 one of prosperity.<ref name="Nilnopkoon"/> By April 1948, Phibulsongkram, the wartime prime minister, returned to his previous office. However, he was caught in a power struggle between his subordinates. To preserve his power, Phibulsongkram began an anti-communist campaign to seek support from the United States.<ref name="สถิตนิรามัย">{{cite web|last=สถิตนิรามัย|first=อภิชาต|title=การเมืองของการพัฒนาเศรษฐกิจยุคแรก 2498–2506|url=http://onopen.com/2006/01/619|access-date=25 August 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512044844/http://onopen.com/2006/01/619|archive-date=12 May 2012}}</ref> As a result, from 1950 onward, Thailand received military and economic aid from the US. The Phibulsongkram government established many state enterprises, which were seen as economic nationalism. The state (and its bureaucrats) dominated capital allocation in the kingdom. [[Ammar Siamwalla]], one of Thailand's most prominent economists, calls it the period of "bureaucratic capitalism".<ref name="สถิตนิรามัย"/>