Townsend Thai Project Big North (Household) Survey, 2004

This is the first baseline household survey for northern regions in 2004. Two additional provinces (Phrae and Phetchabun) from the north were added to the Townsend Thai Project annual survey. The Townsend Thai 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 investi gator. 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 credit 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/本数据集为2004年泰国北部地区的首份基线家庭调查数据。泰国唐森项目（Townsend Thai Project）年度调查新增了北部的帕府（Phrae）与彭世洛府（Phetchabun）两个府份。 泰国唐森项目由坤·松巴特·桑坤塔萨森（Khun Sombat Sakuntasathhien）及其专业团队在泰国境内执行，美国境内的项目管理工作由全国民意研究中心（National Opinion Research Center）与芝加哥大学负责。 本项目的调研设计与合作研究者包括美国西北大学的安娜·保尔森（Anna Paulson）、延世大学（Yonsei University）的李泰正（Tae Joeng Lee），以及佛罗里达大学的迈克尔·宾福德（Michael Binford）。罗伯特·M·唐森（Robert M. Townsend）为项目总负责人与首席研究员。 本项目由美国国立儿童健康与人类发展研究所（NICHD）与美国国家科学基金会（NSF）联合资助，初始研究目标为评估家庭与地方社交网络等非正式制度，在帮助泰国半城市化与农村地区居民维持福祉与生活质量方面的作用。风险，以及家庭与企业层面特定冲击所带来的潜在负面直接影响，是本项目的核心研究内容之一。家庭及社会经济网络在储蓄动员与信贷配置中的中介作用，同样被视为本项目的核心研究方向。此类网络并非孤立存在，而是嵌入于更大范围的村庄、区域与国家层面金融体系之中。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）、国家级金融机构（如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））的评估。 诚然，本项目兼具微观与宏观双重研究维度：既致力于评估非正式与正式金融机构及市场，也旨在构建并评估经济增长、波动与危机相关的宏观模型，而此类宏观模型均以可观测的微观基础为依据。 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年受访目标群体的97%。受访家庭流失的主要原因是迁出村庄，少数家庭拒绝受访，另有三分之一的流失源于户主去世。若某一年份某村庄的受访家庭数量低于15户的目标值，我们将随机补充新的受访家庭，以确保村庄层面平均变量等统计指标的构建质量。关于泰国唐森项目的更多详细信息，可访问网址http://cier.uchicago.edu/