The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. LXIV, Part 1-2, 1976 - Khamkoo

PATTEHNS OF LAND 0\VNERSII\P IN CENTHAL THAILAND 24 7
new employment opportunities either within or outside the village, or
simply because it had no heirs. In the absence of such special conditions,
a high involuntary turnover rate would suggest the existence of economic
distress in the villages.
The average annual rates of warranted and involuntary turnover
for the total sample were as follows:
Sale, Gift Mortgage, Total Warranted Involuntary
Period and Will Khai Faak Turnover Turnover Turnover
1910-14 2.1% 0.0% 2.1% 3.7% 0.0%
1915-19 3.7 0.1 3.8 3.7 0.1
1920-24 4.3 0.2 4.5 3.7 0.8
1925-29 6.6 0.4 7.0 3.7 3.3
1930-34 6.8 1.3 8.1 3.7 4.4
1935-39 4.1 0.4 4.5 3.7 0.8
1940-44 4.3 0.4 4.7 3.7 1.0
1945-49 7.4 0.1 7.5 3.7 3.8
1950-54 4.9 0.1 5.0 3.7 1.3
1955-59 4.0 0.0 4.0 3.7 0.3
1960-64 4.0 0.3 4.3 3.7 0.6
1965-69 3.7 0.1 3.8 3.7 0.1
1970-72 3.8 0.1 3.9 3.7 0.2
These data suggest two conclusions. First, the rate of involuntary
turnover has been decreasing since the late 1940's, indicating more stable
rural conditions during recent decades. Second, the rate of involuntary
turnover has not been alarmingly high with the exception of several
short periods, the depression years and the last half of the 1940 decade.
The 4.4 percent involuntary rate of turnover during the former period
suggests that about 22 percent of the total area was lost by the original
village families during the five-year period, and they would have lost all
their family land within 23 years at that rate. While these high rates
of turnover reflect the adverse economic conditions of earlier periods,
later sections of this paper show that they did not cause the growth of
absentee landlords or large resident landowning families in the villages.
Moreover, the recent rates suggest a much more gradual process-the
complete involuntary turnover of the land would take hupdreds of years
M th~ r~te 9f the last c;lec~de,