Despite starting as one of the poorest countries in the mid-1980s, Vietnam has achieved rapid developmental progress, reaching lower middle-income status in 2010. In line with rapid economic growth, Vietnam has achieved impressive progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during...

A recently much debated issue is why observed investment and growth rates inpoor countries are lower than traditional theory predicts. Empirical evidencesuggests that social and political instability is a major reason for thedivergence between poor and rich countries. However, there is still the...

The purpose of this paper is to provide a contribution to the identification of the role of entrepreneurship in economic growth by mapping out: 1) alternative ways of looking at entrepreneurship, distinguishing 'creative destruction' from simple 'turbulence'; 2) the different microeconomic...

What drives growth at the microeconomic level? Burgess and Venables divide the factors that determine a location's growth performance into two groups, 1st advantage and 2nd advantage. The term 1st advantage refers to the conditions that provide the environment in which new activities can be...

In this essay, we begin by offering a definition and two examples of market creating innovation that provide a foundation for the historically informed theory that follows. With this definition and the examples in mind, we next assess the two dominant theories of development— essentially, the...

In this study, we find that the negative effect of unexploded ordnance (UXO) on the geographical density of foreign direct investment and large firms is a new channel through which the war legacy impedes local development in Vietnam. A 1% increase in the proportion of UXO-contaminated area leads...

While the importance of institutions for explaining cross-country income differences is widely recognized, comparatively little is known about the origins of economic institutions. One strand of the literature emphasizes cultural differences while another points at exogenous environmental...

This paper discusses the possibilities for broad-based IT-led economic growth in India, including increasing value-added, using better telecom links to capture more benefits domestically through offshore development for developed country firms, greater spillovers to the local economy, broadening...

Can information technology (IT) contribute to broad economic development? Can the benefits of IT reach the poor, through better access to education or to government services? We examine two ongoing projects that aim to provide IT-based services to rural populations in India. Several features...