Vanguard Effect of Foreign Aid in Thailand

Abstract This study examines the relationship between foreign aid and investment in Thailand in two ways to see whether foreign aid contributes to Thai economy through encouraging investment in Thailand. The estimation results are summarized as follows. First, the relationship between foreign aid and investment adding to trade, savings, and growth from 1975 to 2020 is shown as positive relationships by using OLS but not by using VAR model. Second, positive relationship between the accumulated foreign aid and foreign direct investment from 1970 to 2020 is shown by using the VAR model, the Granger causality test, and the Impulse response test. Based on the estimation results, we infer that in Thailand foreign aid mainly arranged for social infrastructure since the 1980s guided investments to an extent since foreign aid and investment in Thailand has positive relationship under some restrictions. JEL classification numbers: F35, O53. Keywords: Foreign Aid, Vanguard, Foreign Direct Investment, Thailand.