Search results

Many developing countries—Viet Nam included—continue to struggle to raise incomes per capita. A common feature of the growth and development process is a fundamental change in the pattern of economic activity, as households reallocate labour from traditional agriculture to more productive forms of agriculture and modern industrial and service sectors. Broad structural transformation and widespread poverty reduction is the combined result of these large-scale shifts in work and labour allocation when they realize desired development goals. The roots of this book grow from when the first pilot Viet Nam Access to Resources Household Survey (VARHS) was carried out in 2002. The success of this inspired the Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM) in Hanoi, the Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (CAP-IPSARD), the Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs (ILSSA), and the Development Economics Research Group (DERG) of the University of Copenhagen, together with Danida and, later on, UNU-WIDER, to plan and carry out a more ambitious VARHS from 2006, increasing coverage and representativeness to more than 2,150 families and 12 provinces across the various regions of Viet Nam. The VARHS covering these very same households had, by 2014, been carried out five times, that is, every two years. It is on this high-quality panel data foundation and almost fifteen years of study and policy work using the VARHS data that the present volume builds, in its effort to bring out the essential rural microeconomic characteristics and insights of a dynamic South-East Asian economy in transition from a centrally planned towards a more market-based economy.

Viet Nam is a populous Southeast Asian economy with a particular socioeconomic and political history. At the end of the 'American War' in 1975 ambitions for the future were high, but despite its many potentials, the economy remained poor. International isolation played its role as did centralist policies; and the five-year plan adopted in 1976 turned out as a complete failure. Economic policies started to be reversed following economic collapse in the mid-1980s, and Viet Nam initiated its home-grown Doi Moi reform process. Accordingly, wide-ranging institutional reforms have been gradually implemented since then, including a greater reliance on market forces in the allocation of resources and the determination of prices. A shift from an economy dominated by the state and cooperative sectors to a situation where the private sector and foreign investment account for a relatively high proportion of GDP can also be noted.

Foreign aid looms large in the public discourse; and international development assistance remains squarely on most policy agendas concerned with growth, poverty and inequality in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world. The present review takes a retrospective look at how foreign aid has evolved since World War II in response to a dramatically changing global political and economic context. I review the aid process and associated trends in the volume and distribution of aid and categorize some of the key goals, principles and institutions of the aid system. The evidence on whether aid has been effective in furthering economic growth and development is discussed in some detail. I add perspective and identify some critical unresolved issues. I finally turn to the current development debate and discuss some key concerns, which I believe should be kept in mind in formulating any agenda for aid in the future

AbstractThis article is concerned with the effectiveness and impact of agricultural price policy in Mozambique since Independence in 1975. Existing information on price‐setting and inflation is up‐dated and reviewed, and the implications of a recently compiled aggregate consumer price index are investigated. External pressure and increasing internal difficulties have induced a re‐orientation of economic policies with price and market liberalization in focus. The scope for increasing agricultural production through price reform alone is limited, but Government intervention in agricultural markets in Mozambique could nevertheless be improved. Different types of interventions undertaken and proposed are therefore considered before the article is concluded. © 2016. The Authors. Journal of International Development published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Detaillierte Darstellung der Agrarpreispolitik des Landes seit der Unabhängigkeit 1975. Effektivität der Preispolitik, Preisindex, Inflation werden bewertet und im Zusammenhang mit auswärtigem politischen Druck und zunehmenden innenpolitischen Schwierigkeiten gesehen. Analysiert werden verschiedene Möglichkeiten von Seiten der Regierung, in den Agrarmarkt einzugreifen. (DÜI-Fry)

This edited book provides a comprehensive analytic contribution to the study of micro, small, and medium enterprise (SMEs). It brings together nine up-to-date studies on SME development in Vietnam, combining a unique primary source of panel data with the best analytical tools available.

This volume provides a comprehensive analytic contribution to a crucial topic within development economics based on 15 years of continued data collection and research efforts. It brings together nine up-to-date studies on SME development in a coherent framework to help persuade national and international policy makers (including donors) of the need to take the international call for a data revolution seriously, not only in rhetoric, but also in concrete plans and budget allocations, and in the necessary sustained action at country level. More specifically, the volume: Provides an in-depth evaluation of the development of private sector formal and informal manufacturing SMEs in a developing country—Vietnam in this case—over the past decade, combining a unique primary source of panel data with the best analytical tools available. Generates a comprehensive understanding of the impact of business risks, credit access, and institutional characteristics, on the one hand, and government policies on SME growth performance at the enterprise level, on the other, including the importance of working conditions, informality, and union membership. Serves as a lens through which other countries, and the international development community at large, may wish to approach the massive task of pursuing a meaningful data revolution as an integral element of the SDG development agenda. Makes available a comprehensive set of materials and studies of use to academics, students, and development practitioners interested in an integrated approach to the study of economic growth, private sector development, and the microeconomic analysis of SME development in a fascinating developing country.

For a growing number of countries in Africa the discovery and exploitation of natural resources is a great opportunity, but one accompanied by considerable risks. In Africa, countries dependent on oil, gas, and mining have tended to have weaker long-run growth, higher rates of poverty, and greater income inequality than less resource-abundant economies. In resource-producing economies, relative prices make it more difficult to diversify into activities outside of the resource sector, limiting structural change. Economic structure matters for at least two reasons. First, countries whose exports are highly concentrated are vulnerable to declining prices and volatility. Second, economic diversification matters for long-term growth. This book presents research undertaken to understand how better management of the revenues and opportunities associated with natural resources can accelerate diversification and structural change in Africa. It begins with chapters on managing the boom, the construction sector, and linking industry to the resource—three major issues that frame the question of how to use natural resources for structural change. It then reports the main research results for five countries—Ghana, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia. Each country study covers the same three themes—managing the boom, the construction sector, and linking industry to the resource. One message that clearly emerges is that good policy can make a difference. A concluding chapter sets out some ideas for policy change in each of the areas that guided the research, and then goes on to propose some ideas for widening the options for structural change.