VIETNAM: In Search of a New Growth Model

Vietnam suffered two major domestic financial crises on either side of the global economic crisis of 2008. This extended period of turbulence destabilized the economic model that had been in place for most of the doi moi or renovation period since the late 1980s. The model had consisted of export-oriented and labour intensive vent for surplus sectors welded to a state-dominated economy producing goods and services for the domestic market. The former generated employment and export earnings, while the latter distributed economic rents throughout Vietnam's highly commercialized and fragmented state apparatus. This article sets out to do some things. First, it briefly describes the growth model that evolved during the doi moi period and remained intact until the crises of 2008-2011 played themselves out. Second, the authors revisit the crises of 2008 and 2010 to emphasize the central importance of these events to the breakdown of the old model.