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Abstract
In my thesis, each free-standing but interrelated topic on the political economy of global value chains and skills governance will be examined in the three individual papers. The first paper examines how participation in technologically advancing GVCs induces risks related to the skills of manufacturing labor in Thailand. It focuses on the perception of workers along the automotive value chain on the gap between the skills they possess and the skills required. It will be followed by the second paper that examines whether there is an empirically robust association between a state's integration into GVCs and government expenditure on education. It provides detailed statistical analysis by types of GVC participation and levels of education. It also seeks to provide a plausible explanation for the observed association using regressions in which GVC participation interacts with education expenditure. Finally, the third paper explores the conditions under which states transfer the ownership of primary education services to the private sector. Using cross sectional data from 117 countries, it investigates whether and how political regimes, institutional capacity to control corruption, budgetary constraints, and economic globalization are associated with the state’s decision to privatize primary education. It then provides a brief comparative analysis of primary education governance in Cambodia, Thailand, and Singapore – to examine if the results obtained from the statistical model fit individual cases and to further examine the dynamic interplay between political, economic, demographic, and historical factors throughout the process of primary education privatization.