Townsend Thai Project Institutional Annual Resurvey, 2008

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 c redit 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. 161 institutions were surveyed in the initial l997 cross-section survey. In the annual resurveys we checked to see if an institution was pre-existing, but new institutions were added as well. Some i nstitutions had failed. For example in l998, 45 institutions were sampled in total.本项目在泰国开展，由孔·宋巴特·沙坤塔萨蒂恩（Khun Sombat Sakuntasathhien）及敬业的团队主导推进。本项目在美国由全国民意研究中心（National Opinion Research Center）与芝加哥大学负责管理。本次调研的设计与研究合作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·汤森（Robert M. Townsend）担任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，初始目标为评估家庭、地方网络等非正式制度，在助力泰国半城镇与农村地区民众维持福利与福祉方面的作用。家庭与企业层面特定冲击所引发的风险，及其潜在的负面直接影响，亦是本项目的核心研究内容。家庭与社会经济网络在储蓄动员与信贷配置中的中介作用，同样被视为关键研究环节。此类网络并非孤立存在，而是隶属于更大范围的村庄、区域与国家级金融体系。因此，本项目涵盖对村级金融机构的评估，例如生产信贷小组与稻米银行；同时也包含对国家级金融机构的评估，如商业银行与官方农业信贷机构——泰国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双重研究维度：一方面旨在评估非正式与正式金融机构及市场，另一方面则致力于构建并评估增长、波动与危机相关的宏观模型，而此类宏观模型均以可量化的微观基础为依托。在1997年的初始横截面调研中，研究团队共对161家机构开展了调研。在年度追踪回访中，团队会核查机构是否为原有存续主体，同时也会纳入新设立的机构；部分机构已停止运营。例如1998年的调研中，总计抽样了45家机构。