Community Development Through the People’s Economy: A Case Study in Thap Nam, Ayutthaya Province

Abstract

This study aims to explore local resources, analyze the local demand, connect the supply chain, identify market channel, reduce cost, and generate local income through local cooperation and activism. These efforts contribute to the development of local supply chain, the distribution channel, online and offline market as well as community tourism. The achievement of community economic development in Thap Nam sub-district, Bang Pahan district, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya province - led by a sub-district administrative organization acting as ‘a manager of community based economy’ in collaboration with local people - reflects an approach to community development based on the main street capitalism focusing on moderation drawing from the sufficiency economy philosophy.  These development provides a grassroot based economic alternative promoting self-reliance, sustainability, inequality reduction, social and environmental balance, which is contrary to the conventional capitalism mainly responding to endless demand within limited resources, eventually ending up with environmental degradation. Essentially, capitalism prioritizes ‘profit and growth’ but only causes a situation of big fish eat little fish, where big capital swallows up smaller ones or transnational capital overwhelms national ones, ultimately contributing to the recurring economic crises.