This study examines the poverty indicators in Northeast region of Thailand by adopting the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) methodology and the national survey of Minimum Basic Needs (MBN) of Thailand. Data are collected from three different districts in Khon Kaen province namely: Khok Po Chai, Sam Sung, and Nam Pong. The sample size is 187 households. Data analysis uses Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression approach and includes 7 dimensions of poverty (health, environment, education, economy, Thai value, asset? empowerment, and digital literacy) with a total of 41 indicators. This study has found that poverty indicators in Khon Kaen province remains centered around the aspects of health and employment dimensions. While a change of family structure in the Thai society since 1960s reduces the family size, household saving substantially increases over the years. The effects of health dimension in poverty, on the other hand, appears on the other poverty dimension of Thai value, which include (1) a bad living habit of head of household (smoke or alcohol consumption) that links with illness and disease, (2) religious practice, and (3) chronic illness. Lastly, there are income gaps of different careers in the area, which suggests the issue of income inequality.

The paper examines the effects of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on the economic growth of Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) between 1993 and 2015. The investigation is based on the influence of growth and economic absorptive capability determinants such as human capital, trade openness, and institutional quality. The methodological analysis uses a multivariate framework accounting capital stock, labor stock, FDI, human capital, trade openness, and institutional quality in regression of the Vector Autoregressive model. Augmented Dickey-Fuller unit root test, Johansen Cointegration test, and Granger Causality test were applied as parts of the econometric time-series analysis approach. The empirical results demonstrate the positive effects of FDI and trade openness, and the negative effects of human capital and institutional quality on the economic growth of the Lao PDR over the 1993 to 2015 period. The findings confirm that trade openness complemented by a sufficient level of infrastructure, education, quality institutions, and transparency significantly influence economic growth and attract more FDI. Research results lend credence to the need for the Lao PDR’s government to focus on improving its economic absorptive capability and economic competitiveness regionally and globally by improving wealth and resource management strategies, as failure to take this course of action could lead to the Dutch Disease effects.