An unorthodox view to contemporary economic history of Vietnam

This paper discusses Vietnam's economic development path since the later half of the last century. The paper argues for the existence of a unique development model in Vietnam with many unorthodox features that are developed in a genuinely Vietnamese context. Through the discussion about the central planning period, I show that the development model in this period in Vietnam is very different from the traditional central planning model in the former Soviet bloc with significant elements of free market. In my analysis of Vietnam's recent reforms, I demonstrate that a distinctive gradual transition to a market economy was implemented in Vietnam. In addition, I provide evidence to show that Vietnam did not copy China's gradual transition. There are areas that Vietnam was ahead of China in its reforms. The paper also examines Vietnam's relationship with the core international financial institutions. It suggests that Vietnam has been able to maintain some degree of independence without blindly accepting their orthodox conditionality. The paper suggests that there exists a distinctive development model which I called 'Vietnamese developmentalism'. It shows that alternative development initiatives are possible for developing countries. These can only be observed from an unorthodox view