National pro-poor spending programmes and their effect on income inequality and poverty: Evidence from Vietnam

This article examines the causal effects of the national (pro-poor) targeted programmes (NTPs) on both poverty incidence and inequality in Vietnam over the period 2002–2010. While the links between NTPs and poverty alleviation and income inequality have previously been analysed independently, this study is the first to offer a comprehensive analysis of NTPs expenditure on poverty and inequality simultaneously. Applying the system generalized method of moments estimator to a panel of Vietnamese regional data, we are unable to establish that NTPs have significantly mitigated poverty incidence. However, we estimate that NTPs have significantly increased inequality. We offer possible explanations why the NTPs have resulted in these unintended outcomes and discuss potential policies which can reduce both poverty and inequality.     

Forestland rights institutions and forest management of Vietnamese households

This article aims to unbundle the influence of prevailing forestland rights institutions on the forest management behaviours of Vietnamese households. Based on a sample of 398 observations, we investigate the impact of two dimensions of forestland rights institutions (i.e. the formality and the duration) of two types of forest (i.e. production and protection forests) on two types of forest management behaviours (i.e. clearing and improving forest). We find that different dimensions of forestland rights institutions have different impacts on the forest management behaviour of households.     

Foreign Multinationals and Local Firms in Vietnam's Economic Transition*

This paper compares the economic performance of foreign multinational corporations (MNC) and local firms in Vietnam, distinguishing between two distinct types of local firms: state‐owned enterprises (SOE) and non‐SOE. Between the mid‐1990s and 2000, foreign MNC in Vietnam's economy grew very rapidly, but their growth has been much slower thereafter. Consistent with the theoretical suggestion that MNC possess relatively large amounts of firm‐specific assets related to production technology, marketing networks and management know‐how, these comparisons suggest that foreign MNC were generally larger and had higher labor productivity, capital intensity, wage levels, investment propensities and trade propensities than non‐MNC. On the other hand, foreign MNC tended to have relatively low capital productivity and wage shares of value added, while results regarding profitability were mixed. In general, these differentials tended to be relatively small between foreign MNC and SOE, and SOE tended to be larger than foreign MNC in terms of employment. Correspondingly, comparisons of foreign MNC with non‐MNC generally revealed more consistent differences, largely because the local private sector is still very underdeveloped in Vietnam.     

Governance and compliance in accounting education in Vietnam – case of a public university

Prior research suggests that despite the mass development of higher education in Vietnam recently, the quality of higher education is declining. This study aims to understand the impact of the education reform on the quality of university accounting education by investigating the involvement of different stakeholders in accounting education within one leading university in Vietnam. The findings from the interviews of key stakeholders suggest that accounting education in Vietnam is driven by reduced state control, growing institutional autonomy and increasing external guidance. This has come at the expense of reduced academic self-governance as lecturers have discretion in curriculum delivery at the individual course level, but little input into the decision-making at the school or university level and minimal participation in the curriculum development process. The findings enable regulators and decision-makers to better understand the dynamics between stakeholders in accounting education to enhance accounting graduates’ competencies and outcomes.     

At the Center of the Action: Innovation and Technology Strategy Research in the Small Business Setting

In this essay, we offer perspectives on the future of small business research. These comments cover a range of issues unique to the future of small-business-focused research from "somewhat-broad" to "more-narrow," and address: (1) the problems and promise of better theory building, (2) the range of opportunities for theory-building research, (3) new vantage points for theory-building using the "social responsibility" of small business as a research lens, and (4) the future direction of research in technological entrepreneurship. We conclude with a summary of this "look to the future," and call for the innovative and provocative research that can keep contemporary small business management research at the center of the academic action.     

Laboratory safety design criteria

When handling and processing developmental chemicals for the first time in laboratory, bench scale or pilot plant scale setting, it is important to ascertain the thermal and physical properties of that material early on. Several screening methods for property evaluation are surveyed and the results discussed.     

Some Empirical Tests of Alternative Generalized Two Parameter Asset Pricing Models

In this paper, Grauer's (1978) study was replicated for a larger number of linear risk tolerance (lrt) capm relationships, and for a different (Canadian) data set and (imperfect) market setting. Since few statistically significant differences were found between the eight lrtcapm asset pricing equations based on the bi-variate equality of their mean vectors of estimates of the risk-free rates and the rewards for bearing risk, the findings of this study support Grauer's finding that no lrtcapm clearly dominates all the other contenders. Résumé On a répété ici l'étude de Grauer (1978) sur un plus grand nombre de relations de tolérance linéaire au risque (lrt) capm en utilisant une série de données (canadiennes) et un marché imparfait. Puisque peu de différences statistiques d'importance de la valeur de l'actif qui sont fondées sur l'égalité bi-variable des vecteurs moyens des estimations des taux sans facteur de risque et des avantages associés au risque, cette étude confirme les conclusions de Grauer selon lesquelles aucun rapport lrt-capm ne domine nettement les autres.     

Small-Business Debt Financing: An Empirical Investigation of Default Risk

Unlike much of the existing literature, this paper aims primarily to identify the determinants of the (ex post) risk of default of the corporate borrowings of small business firms. Thus, the explanatory power of forty-three financial and non-financial variables is assessed, using an instrumental-variables approach and logit analysis. Four factors are identified as being significant determinants of the default risk of small-business loans. These are the borrowing firm's total assets at date of loan request, the business's age, the type of loan, and the potential performance of the financed project as assessed by the lending institution. None of the financial ratios examined are found to be significant determinants of default risk. In addition, the three financial institutions studied may be informationally inefficient, since they appear systematically to underestimate (overestimate) the risk of default for high-risk (low-risk) loans. Résumé Contrairement aux études existantes, ce mémoire a pour but d'identifier les déterminants relatifs au risque de défaut (ex post) dans le cas d'emprunts contractés par des petites enterprises. Le caractère explicatif de quarante-trois variables financières et non financières est évalué à l'aide de la méthode des variables instrumentales et de l'analyse logit. Quatre facteurs sont identifiés comme déterminants du risque de défaut des petites entreprises. Ces facteurs sont les suivants: l'actif total de l'entreprise au moment de la demande d'emprunt; le nombre d'années d'existence de l'entreprise; le type d'emprunt et les possibilités de succès du projet, telles qu'évaluées par l'institution prěteuse. L'étude des ratios n'a révélé aucun déterminant d'importance quant au risque de défaut. De plus, il est possible que les renseignements detenus par les trois institutions financières étudiées soient insuffisants puisqu'elles semblent sous-estimer (surestimer) systématiquement le risque de défaut dans le cas d'emprunts à risque (peu) élevé.