Finding the poor in Thailand

This paper provides the first set of precise micro-level estimates of Thai poverty and inequality. By combining household survey and national census data, we estimate Thai poverty and inequality at the district level. The standard errors on our district-level estimates are smaller than the province-level estimates that come from the household survey by itself. We demonstrate that our results can significantly improve the targeting of policies to poor Thai households. Our estimates can also help researchers to answer a range of questions relating to micro-level poverty and economic development in Thailand.