This study analyses bank efficiency in Vietnam from 1999 to 2009. We use a unique data sample that allows us to capture the development of the Vietnamese banking sector over the last decade. We apply an advanced methodological approach introduced by Simar and Wilson (2007) to examine bank efficiency in Vietnam. An integral part of the analysis is to explore the determinants of bank efficiency. The results indicate that large and very large banks are more efficient than small and medium sized banks with small banks having the lowest efficiency scores in the system. We also argue that banks with large branch networks and those that have been in existence for a long time are less efficient than other banks.

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Understanding what determines Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows remains a primary concern of economists and policy makers; yet the uncertainty surrounding FDI theories and empirical approaches has created ambiguity regarding the determinants of FDI. This paper applies Extreme Bounds Analysis to identify the robust determinants of FDI using panel data covering 168 countries from 1970 to 2006. We consider 58 potential economic, geographic and political determinants and find that almost one-third are robust, including: openness, education, government spending, corporate tax rate, infrastructure, experience of conflict, democratic governance, natural resources, geographic location, number of borders, coastal location and language.

We use recently developed panel cointegration and integration tests, which allow for heterogeneity in parameters and dynamics across countries, to examine the long-run determinants of aggregate private saving rates in a dynamic panel of OECD countries during the post Second World War period. These techniques are more powerful than the conventional tests and overcome the inconsistency problem of the ¢xed-e¡ect estimator typically employed in cross-country studies of saving behaviour. We employ a number of alternative cointegration methods and also construct a private disposable income series, while previous studies on private savings tend to proxy income with GDP. We ¢nd strong evidence for the existence of a long-run equilibrium saving function based on an extended version of the life-cycle hypothesis which allows for the in£uence of liquidity constraints. Our results suggest a number of signi¢cant determinants of saving rates, but the parameter estimates vary signi¢cantly across countries.

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