Executive Power to Intervene in the Private Economy: A Case Study based on Provisions of the Constitution 2017

Abstract

The objectives of this research article were 1) to study the theory of economic intervention, it was a government action; 2) to study the powers and duties of the executive based on the constitution and laws; and 3) to study the scope and conditions of economic intervention in the constitution and laws. It was the documentary research by collecting secondary information from books, reports, Thai and foreign journals. A descriptive comparative analysis was performed. The results of the research found that 1) economic intervention by the executive was a government action and was a power and duty of the state in both public law theory and economic theory. According to liberal principles, the state will not intervene in the economic system except that the market mechanism system was inefficient, leading to inequality or inequity; 2) intervention in the economy according to the executive's policy to distribute income and wealth of society and maintain economic stability by interfering in political control by political organizations and processes under the constitution in order to help farmers engage in farming efficiently and be able to compete in the market; and 3) the problem of the executive's interference in the economy according to the constitution arose from interpretation, maintaining state security, national interest, public interest. It had a wide meaning and had many dimensions depending on ideology, time, and environment causing government actions that may not be checked for use of power in the law. It was only an investigation and political liability even though the Constitution in Section 5 clearly states that actions that violated the Constitution had no effect in enforcement. And the economic intervention of the executive for fair competition and anti-monopoly was more in form than substance. Therefore, the economic intervention of the executive was not for fair competition and anti-monopoly.