Background. In recent years, health insurance (HI) has been chosen by many low- and middle-income countries to obtain an important health policy target—universal health coverage. Vietnam has recently introduced the Revised Health Insurance Law, and the effects of the voluntary health insurance (VHI) and heavily subsidised health insurance (HSHI) programmes have not yet been analysed. Therefore, this study is aimed at examining the impact of these HI programmes on the utilisation of health care services and out-of-pocket health expenditure (OOP) in general and across different health care providers in particular. Methods. Using the two waves of Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys 2014 and 2016 and the difference-in-difference method, the impacts of VHI and HSHI on health care utilisation and OOP in Vietnam were estimated. Results. For both the VHI and HSHI groups, we found that HI increased the probability of seeking outpatient care, the mean number of outpatient visits, the total number of visits, and the mean number of visits at the district level of health care providers in the last 12 months. However, there was no evidence that the HSHI programmes increased the mean number of inpatient visits and the number of visits at the provincial hospital. We also found that while the VHI programme reduced OOP for both outpatient and inpatient care, the HSHI scheme did not result in a reduction in OOP for hospitalisation, although HI lowered the total OOP. Similarly, we found that for both groups, HI reduced OOP when the insured visited district and provincial hospitals. However, the statistically significant impact was not demonstrated when the enrolees of HSHI programmes visited provincial hospitals. Conclusion. The study offers evidence that the Vietnamese HI scheme increased health care service utilisation and decreased OOP for the participants of the VHI and HSHI programmes. Therefore, the government should continue to consider improving the HI system as a strategy to achieve universal health coverage.

Using a system generalized method of moments model, the present paper investigates the impacts of trade liberalization on employment in Vietnam from 1999 to 2004. The results show that the increase in industrial output increased labor demand, whereas the increasing wage rate led to a decline in the employment level. The impact of export expansion on derived labor demand was positive and statistically significant, indicating that the higher level of exports than previously presented employment opportunities for the country's large labor surplus. As far as imports are concerned, empirical observations indicate that imports did not necessarily negatively impact Vietnam's employment level.

Twenty years have passed since Vietnam implemented its comprehensive reform known as Doi moi policy. The paper aims at reviewing and evaluating the structure and pegormance of the Doi moi policy. We conjrm that Vietnam has attained significant achievements in the areas of economic growth, openness to trade, poverty reduction and human development. However, weaknesses and challenges to the economy are emerging. First, the financial sector is lagging far behind, compared with other economic sectors. Second, SOEs still account for a large share in the GDP, demonstrating a sustained and strong role of the government in the economy. Third, a lack of transparency has led to a high level of corruption, dissuading foreigners @om investment, as well as slowing down economic growth. Fourth, the gap between urban and rural areas is widening as a result of globalization. Suggested remedies include accelerating reforms, increasing transparency, changing the role of government, and improving both hard and soft infrastructure in the economy.

This paper analyzes the dynamic patterns and trends pertaining to bilateral trade betweenKorea and Vietnam over the past decade. The principal findings of this paper are as follows. First, the commodity trade patterns between Korea and Vietnam have remained virtually unchanged, even though the volume of bilateral trade between the two has expanded significantly over the past decade. Second, Korean exports have been characterized by a high and growing share of intermediate goods, and Korean imports by a high and growing share of consumption goods. Third, the technological level of Korea's exports to Vietnam is much higher than that of Vietnam's exports to Korea. Fourth, Vietnam's exports are less diverse than Korea's. Fifth, bilateral trade between Korea and Vietnam has been less intense than these countries' trade with other countries in recent years. Sixth, Korea-Vietnam bilateral trade has principally been inter-industry trade. Seventh, Vietnam enjoys a comparative advantage largely in either primary products or low-technology manufactures, whereas Korea enjoys a comparative advantage primarily in manufactured products and machinery and transport equipment. Finally, the high degree of trade complementarity between Korea and Vietnam makes it plausible that a freer trade agreement may bring about greater benefit for both countries. JEL code: F13, F14, F15

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the development of intellectual property rights (IPR) in Vietnam from a regional perspective. The protection of IPR in Vietnam has recently received domestic and international attention. The Vietnamese government has responded by reforming its industrial and copyright regimes, consolidating its legislation, and creating new administrative and judicial institutions to facilitate the enforcement of these new rights. In so doing, Vietnam has brought its IPR system into conformity with the requirements under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). The study reveals major stylized facts of Vietnam's intellectual property (IP) landscape that include an insignificant volume of invention, the predominance of non-residents' patents, high grant ratios to non-residents, a remarkable increase in non-residents' applications, and dynamic patterns of trademark activity. The slow increase in patent applications and grants implies the country's weak technological progress, low quality of scientists and research institutions, and low investment in research and development (R&D) over nearly two decades. Despite having taken significant steps to strengthen its IPR protection and enforcement, Vietnam continues to experience severely IP-infringed goods. The paper also derives possible policy implications for upgrading Vietnam's IPR system.