Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Economics
Document Type
Dissertation
Abstract
This dissertation consists of three studies investigating both long and short run impacts of agricultural policies on the development of Vietnam’s economy. The first study, "Colonial Waterways and Long-Term Development in the Mekong Delta", investigates how the water transportation network of agricultural commodities constructed during the period of 1862 - 1934 can influence long-run development. The main results suggest that a one standard deviation increase in waterway accessibility is associated with approximately 5% and 4% increases in contemporary household income and expenditure respectively. The second study, "Land Use Restrictions, Misallocation in Agriculture, and Aggregate Productivity in Vietnam", quantifies the effects of Rice Land Designation Policy in Vietnam, which forces farmers to produce rice on almost 45% of land plots, on aggregate productivity using micro-level data within a quantitative model. My quantitative analysis shows that eliminating all land use restrictions leads to an 8.03% increase in real GDP per capita. The third essay, "The Impacts of Farmland Expropriation on Vietnam’s Rural Households", evaluates the impacts of losing farmland through compulsory acquisition on Vietnamese household welfare. I find that a 10 percentage point increase in the proportion of land expropriated results in a 3.5% decrease in household monthly food expenditure.
Date
4-9-2020
Recommended Citation
Le, Kien, "Agricultural Policies and Economic Development in Vietnam" (2020). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 5216.
https://repository.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/5216
Committee Chair
Chanda, Areendam
DOI
10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.5216