Guns, Girls, Gambling, Ganja: Thailand's Illegal Economy and Public Policy

An interesting book.

Before I read this book, I had traveled to Thailand several times and I had interviewed a number of Thai informants on both the new second international airport project and on several ongoing LRT projects in Bangkok, related to my Ph.D research on large global infrastructure projects.Based on my time traveling in Thailand and based on the many stories of corruption told by expatriate managers, I became fascinated with the Thai socio-economic, political and legal system. As a result, I picked up this book in a local bookstore in Bangkok.I do not know the literature on Thailand well, but I was delighted with the breadth and depth of understanding that this book provided concerning the informal economy in Thailand. The book also describes the links between economic activity in Thailand and other nations in the South East Asian region.The authors are Thai, but educated at Ivy league schools in the US, so they offer a local perspective underpinned by sound empirical research and analysis.I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about the Thai economy, or about the basic cultural-cognitive belief and value systems that cradle and reinforce the innerworkings of this economy.The policy implications suggested at the end of the book are not naive, but well considered. Although they may not be directly applicable in neigbouring countries (i.e. Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar), they should shed light on the types of interventions that will be necessary in order to increase transparency and reform illegal activities in the Asian pacific region.

This book takes a hard look at the illegal aspects of Thai society with its gambling, prostitutes (girls), drugs (mainly ganja as marijuana is known, but also heroin and other drugs), and other areas or vices that occur in many societies. The book argues that it is this underground presence or support that is basically driving or causing the very wide gap between rich and poor that exists not only in a country like Thailand, but in the country of the United States as well (any recently graduated bachelor's degree student of General Studies could tell a reader that).What can be learned from this book? How important it is to stay away from these things and how equally important it is that if the reader has a history of being involved in either ends of these things that he/she continues to stay away from it. It also serves as a warning to those who may be participating in these things that they are in fact illegal, but in Thailand (and in the U.S.) there's always corruption in some of the police and those who are entrusted to enforce the laws.

Hey ..., let's go! Guns, girls, gambling and Ganja. The title does sound more like rock'n'roll than academic writing, but Thai society generally does. Reading the piece is quite fatiguing as it clearly aims at an audience of academics, not the average backpacker/tourist-trapper or just Joe Average trying to focus his vacating brains on something important. Well, why shouldn't it? There is a remarkable lack of interesting writing on most subjects regarding tourist-infested countries like Thailand, India, Nepal etc. Those who are interested in digging a bit further down the soil are referred to egg-head-writing. Now for a piece of somewhat more constructive criticism: GGG&G provides a good overview of police force-corruption, oil and arms-smuggling, hustling and illegal betting in Thailand and SEA. It could, despite all dullness, be recommended to those infected by hows and whys and perhaps a few was-it-that-bad?s on old Siam, in case the text was edited, a few more ordinary people were interviewed and I daresay with a few naughty pictures. The content excites, but the form in which it is provided turns down.

per amanti del genere

The book is ok content wise but spoiled by underlining all over the place in ink, that's the chance you take buying used I guess...