The long term impact of Vietnam war's veteran on economic governance

I investigate the effects of Vietnam War’s veteran on long run economic development in Vietnam. Using a unique dataset containing the number of war invalids at province levels, I find the number of war invalids from each province to be an important determinant of its current economic performance. To correct for potential biases arising from reverse causality, measurement error and unobservable province characteristics, I use an instrumental variable approach exploiting distance to the 17th parallel demilitarized zone. I also find that the importance of the war invalids for contemporary development is a result of its impacts on overall provincial economic governance and other disaggregated economic institutions, such as the pro-activity of provincial leadership, the quality of the legal institutions and services supporting business development.War invalids, economic governance, economic development, Vietnam

Cooperation makes beliefs: climate variation and sources of social trust in Vietnam

I investigate the origins of social trust within Vietnam. Combining a unique contemporary survey of households with historical data on climate variation, I show that individuals who are heavily threatened by negative climate fluctuation exhibit more trust in neighbors and other people in close group. The evidence indicates that the effects of climate variation on social trust are transmitted through strengthening the cooperation among village peasants in coping with risk and uncertainty. The results also indicate that households with higher proportion of agricultural incomes tend to rely more on village members in the case of emergency. However, the increased village relationship does not erode family ties

On the sources of risk preferences in rural Vietnam

In this paper, I provide a new empirical evidence that natural environment can shape individual risk preferences. By combining historical data on climate variation and contemporary survey questions on risk aversion, I find that risk aversion is significantly different for people who live in areas that have suffered high frequency of natural disasters. In particular, individuals highly affected by climate volatility show a long term risk aversion. The finding also supports the hypothesis that when people used to live in risky environment, an incremental increase in risk affects their risk preferences less

Cooperation makes beliefs: climate variation and sources of social trust in Vietnam

I investigate the origins of social trust within Vietnam. Combining a unique contemporary survey of households with historical data on climate variation, I show that individuals who are heavily threatened by negative climate fluctuation exhibit more trust in neighbors and other people in close group. The evidence indicates that the effects of climate variation on social trust are transmitted through strengthening the cooperation among village peasants in coping with risk and uncertainty. The results also indicate that households with higher proportion of agricultural incomes tend to rely more on village members in the case of emergency. However, the increased village relationship does not erode family ties

The long term impact of Vietnam war's veteran on economic governance

I investigate the effects of Vietnam War’s veteran on long run economic development in Vietnam. Using a unique dataset containing the number of war invalids at province levels, I find the number of war invalids from each province to be an important determinant of its current economic performance. To correct for potential biases arising from reverse causality, measurement error and unobservable province characteristics, I use an instrumental variable approach exploiting distance to the 17th parallel demilitarized zone. I also find that the importance of the war invalids for contemporary development is a result of its impacts on overall provincial economic governance and other disaggregated economic institutions, such as the pro-activity of provincial leadership, the quality of the legal institutions and services supporting business development