“Living with the Risk: Responses of the Lower-classes in Bangkok” (Kyoto University Press. 2011)

Tamaki Endo (Associate Professor, Faculty of Economics, Saitama University)

I am most honored that my book has been selected to be awarded the Masayoshi Ohira Prize, and I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the board of directors, the selection committee and the staff. I also would like to thank everyone who has encouraged and helped me in the process of research and writing.
The book analyzes the risk management process of urban lower-class in Bangkok by focusing on two dimensions: residence and occupation. The traditional argument of Development Economics are based on the hypothesis that ‘Informal Economy (IE)’ or occupations such as vendors, garbage collectors, motorbike taxi drivers is a temporary phenomena during development period and once a country developed, then the ‘IE’ will disappear. However, contrary to earlier works, the IE has expanded as globalization marches on and Thailand was not an exception. Therefore, I started my long-term research in the community, aiming to conduct economical analysis of the IE.
However, a huge fire occurred at one of my main research sites, an inner city community, in 2004 and all households were burned down. In the long process of rehabilitation that followed, people resorted to trial and error to get back their life by using all available resources and relationships they had, in spite of some limitations. In following this difficult process of reconstruction, my research topic also gradually changed. I started to think of a more dynamic analysis of the impact of risk, such as job lay offs and fire-and risk management, and realized that risk is an important factor in understanding people’s labour and life. However, urban low-income groups are not homogeneous and disparities within it was widening. Therefore, I also conducted analysis of class disparities and their rearrangement among the urban-lower-class and also the possibilities of upward mobility by carefully paying attention to the internal logic of communities and people’s perceptions. As the result, the multiple function of IE and community for people also became clear. The urban community is the place that enables flexible adjustment of residence and also functions as a cushion of damages from risks. Certainly there is limitation and community can not solve everything but still it absorbs some of the impact of risks and ensures people’s urban survival.
In globalization era where insecurity is increasing, instead of static discussion of ‘how much money you have (or poor)’, it is important to undertake dynamic analysis to understand whether ‘you can response and manage risks encountered’. There is many things we, recent Japan, can learn from Thailand. My book will be translated to English next year. Receiving the award encourages me and I hope I can live up to the expectations that accompany this prize in my future research.

Profile
ENDO Tamaki is an Associate Professor at Faculty of Economics, Saitama University (Asian Economy, Thai Studies). She received her B.A. in Law and Politics from Faculty of Law (1999), and her M.A. in Economics from Faculty of Economics (2001), and PhD in Economics (2007) from Kyoto University. She was Research Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (DC1) since 2001, Visiting Research Fellow at Social Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University from June 2003 to 2005, Research Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (PD) from April 2004 to March 2007, and Research Fellow at Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University until March 2008, and a Lecturer at Faculty of Economics, Saitama University from April 2008 to September 2011.