This paper sets out a new way to quantitatively assess what affects micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise (MSME) development nationally. It uses probabilistic principal component analysis to examine firm-level panel data from Thailand.
Understanding the business environment and structural issues that limit growth is crucial in designing an effective national policy framework for private sector development―especially for MSMEs. This paper analyzes data on 49,565 MSMEs in Thailand. It finds a potential disproportionate effect of MSME policy interventions during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This underscores the importance of a focused approach in designing policies for MSME development to facilitate more sustainable, resilient private sector growth.