Effects of Trade Liberalisation on Poverty in Vietnam

Trade liberalisation is frequently advocated as a major potential contributor to economic growth and development. Many developing countries, such as Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Ghana, Uganda, and particularly Vietnam, attained high economic growth and reduced poverty considerably. After transforming a centrally planned economy into an open market economy in 1986, Vietnam attained remarkable achievements in economic growth and the reduction of poverty. Yet the empirical literature on the relationship between trade liberalisation and poverty has been criticised primarily for its inadequate methodology and inconclusiveness (Rodriguez and Rodrik, 2001; Wacziarg and Welch, 2008; Pacheco-Lopez and Thirlwall, 2009; Singh, 2010). The persistence of poverty amongst a considerable proportion of the population in transitional or liberalised developing economies also questions the real…