Townsend Thai Project Household Annual Resurvey, 2015 (Rural)

The project is carried out in Thailand under the direction of Khun Sombat Sakuntasathhien and dedicated staff. The project is administered in the United States at the National Opinion Research Center and the University of Chicago. Survey design and research collaborators include Anna Paulson of Northwestern University, Tae Joeng Lee of Yonse University, and Michael Binford of the University of Florida. Robert M. Townsend is overall project director and principal investigator. The initial purpose of the NICHD-NSF funded project was to evaluate the role of informal institutions such as the family and local networks in helping to support the welfare and well-being of individuals in semi-urban and rural areas of Thailand. Risk, and the potentially adverse and direct consequences of household- and firm-specific shocks is a key part of project. The mediating role of the family and social and economic networks in the mobilization of savings and allocation of cre dit was also deemed essential. These networks are not viewed in isolation but rather are part of the larger village, regional, and national level financial system. Thus the project includes an evaluation of village-level financial institutions, such as Production Credit Groups and rice banks, and national-level financial institutions such as commercial banks and the government agricultural bank, the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC). Indeed, the project has both micro and macro aspects. It seeks to evaluate informal and formal financial institutions and markets and to construct and evaluate macro models of growth, fluctuations, and crisis. The macro models are based on the measured micro- underpinnings. Household Resampling. Every effort is made to resurvey previously interviewed households. In l998 we successfully reinterviewed 95.32% of the l997 target, previously- surveyed population. In l999 we re surveyd 97% of the l997 target. Most of the attrition is to due to the household having moved out of the village, though a handful have refused to be interviewed, and a third cause is death of the head. If in any year we are short of the target 15 households per village, we include random replacements, for the purpose of constructing village average variables, for example. More details about the Townsend Thai Project are available at http://cier.uchicago.edu/

本项目于泰国境内开展，由Khun Sombat Sakuntasathhien与专业团队统筹执行。项目在美国的管理方为全国民意研究中心（National Opinion Research Center）与芝加哥大学（University of Chicago）。调研设计与研究协作方包括西北大学（Northwestern University）的Anna Paulson、延世大学（Yonsei University）的Tae Joeng Lee，以及佛罗里达大学（University of Florida）的Michael Binford。罗伯特·M·汤森（Robert M. Townsend）为本项目总负责人与首席研究员。
本项目由美国儿童健康与人类发展研究所（National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NICHD）与美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation, NSF）联合资助，初始目标为评估家庭、地方网络等非正式制度在助力泰国半城市化与农村地区个体提升福利与福祉方面的作用。家庭与企业特有冲击所引发的风险及其潜在的直接负面影响，亦是本项目的核心研究内容之一。家庭、社会与经济网络在储蓄动员与信贷配置中的中介作用，同样被列为关键研究主题。
上述网络并非孤立存在，而是隶属于更广阔的村庄、区域乃至国家级金融体系。因此，本项目同时涵盖对村级金融机构（如生产信贷小组与稻米银行）以及国家级金融机构的评估，后者包括商业银行与政府农业信贷机构——农业与农业合作社银行（Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, BAAC）。本项目兼具微观与宏观研究维度：旨在评估非正式与正式金融机构及市场，并构建与验证经济增长、波动与危机的宏观模型，而此类宏观模型将以实测微观基础为核心依据。
家庭重访机制。本项目尽全力对已受访家庭进行回访。1998年，我们成功回访了1997年受访目标群体的95.32%；1999年，回访覆盖率达到1997年目标群体的97%。样本流失的主要原因是家庭迁出本村，少数案例为受访者拒绝参与调研，第三大原因为户主去世。若某一年度某村庄的有效样本量低于目标户数15户，我们将随机补充新样本，以用于构建村庄层面平均变量等研究用途。
更多关于汤森泰国项目（Townsend Thai Project）的详细信息可访问http://cier.uchicago.edu/