This study aims at determining if organic tea farming results in higher net income than conventional tea farming in the mountainous areas of Northern Vietnam. Our sample includes 226 traditional and 319 organic tea-producing households in the provinces of Thai Nguyen, Phu Tho, Ha Giang, and Lai Chau. Using a propensity score matching approach, the study finds that the adoption of organic tea production had a positive impact on households’ farm income in the study area. Using different matching algorithms, organic tea adopters earned higher income than did non-adopters, from 1038.8 to 1059.0 thousand Vietnamese Dong (VND) per hectare of cultivation plot. To increase conversion to organic tea farming amongst smallholder farmers, the government and other stakeholders should aim to provide better extension services, which incorporate relevant training to farmers and better access to information on organic tea production, as well as encouraging the commercialization of organic fertilizers. Simultaneously, the Vietnamese government should introduce mechanisms to coordinate production activities and deliver tea products to processing and/or marketing facilities.

This paper investigates the impacts of trade liberalisation on poverty reduction in Vietnam during the period of economic reform. Using a combined approach dealing with four transmitting channels from trade to poverty, the major findings are summarised as follows. First, Vietnam's trade liberalisation has fostered economic growth, which has helped to raise per capita GDP and reduce poverty. Second, trade liberalisation has directly benefited the poor through creating pro-poor employment and raising wages. Third, another impact of trade liberalisation on poverty is income and substitution effects associated with reduced domestic prices of importables and increased domestic prices of exportables such as coffee and rice. Fourth, trade liberalisation has indirectly benefited the poor because it raises government revenue, which enhances the government's ability to subsidise the poor. Finally, although the poverty rate in Vietnam has been reduced impressively, there is an increasing disparity between urban and rural areas and, among the latter, concern does exist regarding ethnic minorities. Copyright 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

This paper estimates the trade creation and trade diversion effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) using a panel data set of 77 countries for the period 1989–2016. We found that the formation of NAFTA has resulted in both import trade creation and diversion. However, the magnitude of trade creation is higher than that of trade diversion. On the sectoral level, trade creation and diversion occur in both agricultural and non‐agricultural imports, with trade creation exhibiting a higher magnitude. The magnitude of trade creation and diversion is found to be the highest for agricultural imports, which are followed by total and non‐agricultural imports, respectively.

PurposeThis study analyzes the factors that affect the decisions of micro-businesses to switch to enterprises in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam.Design/methodology/approachIn order to explain the behavior of micro-businesses in switching to enterprises, the authors designed a questionnaire and collected survey data from 404 micro-businesses. The generalized structural equation modeling was applied to analyze the structured model with the dichotomous dependent variable.FindingsFirst, the behavior of micro-businesses to switch was indirectly affected by needs and directly affected by attitudes, perceived behavioral control, subject norm and institutional quality. Second, the subject norms exerted the most influence on the behavior of the micro-businesses in switching. This finding implies that (1) the behavior of the micro-businesses depended on the assessments, perceptions and views of their friends, relatives and colleagues, and (2) the behavior to switch stems mainly from the desire to improve the businesses' position in society. Finally, both formal and informal institutions play an essential role in the behavior of the micro-businesses to switch to enterprises.Originality/valueThere have been no previous studies that have applied structured models to test the behavior of micro-businesses to switch to enterprises. Furthermore, previous studies had mainly addressed the psychological factors or needs of micro-businesses. In this study, apart from the above factors, the authors discuss the impact of institutions on the behavior of micro-businesses to switch.

Although the issues of trade barriers have been discussed extensively in the existing economic literature, little evidence has been documented regarding the structures, characteristics, and trends of the trade barriers, including non-tariff barriers, in Vietnam and Thailand from a comparative perspective. This study analyzes how Vietnam and Thailand balance their needs to protect domestic industries and compliance with regional and multilateral commitments. This study's findings are summarized as follows: First, both Vietnam and Thailand have similar tariff structures based on products and their origins, although the tariff schedule of Thailand is more complex than that of Vietnam. Second, Vietnam's tariffs are more dispersed across the items than those of Thailand, due to the higher maximum tariff rate and percentage of tariff lines, ranging from 0–5 percent. Third, in terms of tariff escalation, the magnitude in Vietnam is higher than in Thailand. Fourth, the non-tariff structure of Thailand is more complex than that in Vietnam. Finally, when putting all the pieces of the complex web of trade distortions together, it appears both countries give more protection to the agricultural sector than non-agricultural sectors, but the intensity of protection in Vietnam is higher than in Thailand.