Person:
Nguyen, Ha
Author Name Variants
Fields of Specialization
Financial Sector,
Private Sector Development,
Global Economy
Degrees
ORCID
External Links
Departments
Development Research Group
Externally Hosted Work
Contact Information
Last updated
July 5, 2023
Biography
Ha Minh Nguyen is an Economist in the Macroeconomics and Growth Team of the Development Research Group. He joined the Bank in July 2009 as a Young Economist after earning a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland, College Park. He also holds a M.A. and B.A. in economics from The University of Adelaide, Australia. His research interests include International Finance and Economic Growth. His current research is on the financial crisis and the real exchange rates.
Publication Search Results
1 - 5 of 5
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Publication
Labor Market Impacts and Responses: The Economic Consequences of a Marine Environmental Disaster
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-04)This paper examines the labor market impacts of a large-scale marine environmental crisis caused by toxic chemical contamination in Vietnam's central coast in 2016. Combining labor force surveys with satellite data on fishing-boat detection, the analysis finds negative and heterogeneous impacts on fishery incomes and employment and uncovers interesting coping patterns. Satellite data suggest that upstream fishers traveled to safe fishing grounds, and thus bore lower income damage. Downstream fishers, instead, endured severe impact and were more likely to substitute fishery hours for working secondary jobs. The paper also finds evidence on an impact recovery to fishing intensity and fishery income, and a positive labor market spillover to freshwater fishery. -
Publication
Impact of U.S. Market Access on Local Labor Markets in Vietnam
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03)This paper examines the impact of U.S. market access on local labor markets in a developing country, Vietnam. The study finds that following the implementation of the Vietnam–United States bilateral trade agreement in December 2001, manufacturing employment increased in provinces that were more exposed to U.S. tariff cuts. In those provinces, employment also increased in many service sectors, reflecting strong spillovers of job gains. The new job opportunities have attracted labor from agriculture, thus reducing agricultural employment. The paper examines three possible channels of job gain spillovers, namely, demand, production, and real estate. Although there is evidence for all three channels, the demand channel is the most important. -
Publication
The Long-Run and Gender-Equalizing Impacts of School Access: Evidence from the First Indochina War
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-06)Very few studies currently exist on the long-term impacts of schooling policies in developing countries. This paper examines the impacts -- half a century later -- of a mass education program conducted by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the occupied areas during the First Indochina War. Difference-in-difference estimation results suggest that school-age children who were exposed to the program obtained significantly higher levels of education than their peers who were residing in French-occupied areas. The impacts are statistically significant for school-age girls and not for school-age boys. The analysis finds beneficial spillover and inter-generational impacts of education: affected girls enjoyed higher household living standards, had more educated spouses, and raised more educated children. The paper discusses various robustness checks and extensions that support these findings. -
Publication
Productivity Loss and Misallocation of Resources in Southeast Asia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-11)This paper examines within-sector resource misallocation in three Southeast Asian countries -- Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. The methodology accounts for measurement error in revenues and costs. The firm-level evidence suggests that measurement error is substantial, resulting in an overestimation of misallocation by as much as 30 percent. Nevertheless, resource misallocation across firms within a sector remains large, albeit declining. The findings imply that there are considerable potential gains from efficient reallocation -- above 80 percent for Indonesia and around 20 to 30 percent for Malaysia and Vietnam. Private domestic firms and firms with higher productivity appear to face larger distortions that prevent them from expanding. -
Publication
On the Allocation of Resources in Developing East Asia and Pacific
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-10)Over the past decades, East Asia and Pacific's productivity has been gradually catching up with the frontier (the United States), with China leading the pack. Productivity growth has been driven by sustained within-sector productivity growth. Reallocation of labor to sectors with higher productivity, such as industry and services, also contributed to productivity improvements. Nevertheless, resource misallocation remains. Firm-level evidence from four East Asia and Pacific countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam) suggests that resource misallocation across firms within a sector is large, albeit declining over time. Private domestic firms and firms with higher productivity face larger distortions.