Weathering a Different Kind of Storm: Vietnam\u27s Reaction to Financial Disaster

I chose to research Vietnam’s reaction to the global financial crisis as a conclusion to my study abroad experience. I thought of it as an opportunity to put in practice the methods I had learned creating the market risk index, while seeing if what I found in Vietnam applied to the theories on the future of capitalism I had researched. My findings are presented more in the style of a magazine or newspaper article, mostly because it is pieces such as these—not long, dry journal articles—that spark my interest and stick in my memory. The New York Times columns of Thomas Friedman and Paul Krugman are what made me decide to study politics and economics, and they continue to keep those interests alive. I have also chosen this style because these sources, after my interviews, were the most helpful part of my research, since Vietnam’s response to the financial crisis is far from over and truly comprehensive journal articles are yet to be published. The currency of the topic also meant that several useful figures were not yet available at the time of my research, so my methodology was much more qualitative than quantitative. My findings presented here are a compilation of what I learned in my interviews and readings during my last month in Vietnam, as well as what I learned through personal observations and interactions in the two months leading up to my formal research. - excerpt from Introductio