Vietnam

Increasing women’s labour force participation and career progression is a key priority for policymakers in developing and developed economies alike. A central question is whether economic development and rising incomes naturally lead to greater femal...

Evidence from Vietnam shows that institutional barriers not only misallocate resources but also discourage farmers from investing in productivity improvements, compounding the losses from misallocation.

Bilateral trade agreements create opportunities beyond signatories. The US-Vietnam trade agreement led to large, persistent increases in formal manufacturing employment in Vietnam through the entry and expansion of multinationals from East Asia.

Special Economic Zones can raise formal employment and wages in the right conditions, but without strong complementary policies such as education, infrastructure and trade openness, they are unlikely to deliver sustained economic growth.

Vietnam’s economic transformation is one of the most dramatic in recent history. Economist and Advisor Pham Chi Lan saw it all and tells us how it happened.

Vietnam's solar boom was built on three key pillars: foreign direct investment (FDI) (mostly from China), access to subsidised Chinese inputs, and productivity spillovers from multinationals to domestic suppliers.

Agricultural productivity in developing countries remains low and uneven, with high-return crops offering significant potential gains but limited adoption due to clustered social networks that restrict the diffusion of new technologies.

Vietnam’s Special Economic Zones are not just attracting investment—they are creating better, more formal jobs, with women in rural areas benefiting most.

When a family member becomes disabled, individuals become more risk averse—a finding with significant implications for policies that address poverty and vulnerability in disability-affected households.