Over the course of many years, the Mekong Delta region has experienced relatively low and inconsistent levels of business attraction and low quality of the enterprise environment compared to other regions in Vietnam. To delve into whether this discrepancy reflects a negative perception of the business environment in the area, this study employs a dataset comprising the aggregate Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) and nine of its component scores, alongside other significant control variables, to analyze business attraction trends spanning from 2010 to 2020. It based on the modeling analysis for the panel data that includes Pool-OLS, FEM and REM models. The findings indicate that PCI serves as an important indicator influencing the quality of the business environment and plays a role in determining the location preferences of businesses. It is observed that public investment has exerted an impact on enticing new businesses to the region throughout this period. These research outcomes carry several policy implications, suggesting that public policy interventions can positively shape the business environment, consequently bolstering the appeal of business investments in the region.

The article provides evidence on the effect of local public governance on the impact of public investment on local and regional economic growth, using spatial and regional logic. The research uses the spatial Durbin model and produces a panel data set that was conducted on 63 provinces of Vietnam from 2006 to 2022. Based on the interaction between public governance and public investment, the main findings indicate that their interaction plays an important role in adjusting the effects of public investment and public governance on economic growth not only in the locality but also spillover to neighboring localities in both the short and long terms. It suggests that local public governance not only hampers the impact of local public investment on local economic growth but also has spillover effects on the growth of neighboring provinces or regions in Vietnam. Additionally, the results of detailed analysis of PCI component indicators show that many aspects of local public governance are hindering local economic growth but contributing to promoting neighboring localities economic growth. Or, it has no effect the locality but promote or hinder the regional economic growth. The findings in this study implies that authorities of localities need to be cautious when using resources to improve the various aspects of public governance when designing strategies to enhance the quality of local public governance. It also suggests that this spillover effect is a crucial factor in advocating for more redistributive fiscal policies and regional governance policies aimed at reducing economic disparities caused by territorial boundaries. Therefore, authorities should prioritize regional cooperation strategies in their decisions regarding public governance and public capital allocation.

The livelihood of ethnic minority households in Vietnam is mainly in the fields of agriculture and forestry. The percentage of ethnic minorities who have jobs in industry, construction, and services is still limited. Moreover, due to harsh climate conditions, limited resources, poor market access, low education level, lack of investment capital for production, and inadequate policies, job opportunities in the off-farm and non-farm activities are very limited among ethnic minority areas. This paper assessed the contribution of livelihood diversification activities to poverty reduction of ethnic minority households in Son La Province of Vietnam. The analysis was based on the data using three stages sampling procedure of 240 ethnic minority households in Son La Province. The finding showed that the livelihood diversification activities had positively significant contribution to poverty reduction of ethnic minority households in Son La Province. In addition, the factors positively affecting the livelihood choices of ethnic minority households in Son La Province of Vietnam are education level, labor size, access to credit, membership of associations, support policies, vocational training, and district. Thus, improving ethnic minority householder’s knowledge through formal educational and training, expanding availability of accessible infrastructure, and enhancing participation of social/political associations were recommended as possible policy interventions to diversify livelihood activities so as to mitigate the level of poverty in the study area.

This paper focuses on studying the impact of institutional distance between home and host countries on the entry mode choice of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Based on theories of transaction costs and institutional theory, we predict the trend of choosing investment forms of wholly-owned enterprises (WOEs) and joint venture enterprises (JVEs) in the agricultural sector of Vietnam in the context of free trade agreement implementation. The data of 364 MNEs from 22 different nations that directly invested in the agricultural sector of Vietnam in the period 1996–2019 were extracted from Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), which is provided by World Bank. An empirical investigation has employed logistic regression. The results show a positive relationship between institutional distance with regard to rule of law and regulatory quality and WOE choice. Furthermore, the entry mode choices of MNEs in Vietnam’s agricultural sector are also noticeably influenced by the implementation of freedom trade agreements (FTAs).

This study examines the bottleneck effect of logistics performance on Vietnam’s imports, utilizing bilateral trade data from 2007 to 2022. We evaluate the impact of logistics performance on imports of Vietnam using the augmented gravity model and a random effects estimator. Our findings reveal that the minimum logistics performance between Vietnam and its trading partners has a significantly positive impact on the Vietnamese imports. The magnitude of its bottleneck effects is much larger than the influence of Vietnam’s individual logistics performance or deviations in performance with its trading partners. Recognizing the impact of logistics bottlenecks on international trade enables policymakers to develop more effective and efficient logistics-related policies for enhancing bilateral trade with trading partners.

Renewable energy is gaining momentum in developing countries as an alternative to non-renewable sources, with rooftop solar power systems emerging as a noteworthy option. These systems have been implemented across various provinces and cities in Vietnam, accompanied by government policies aimed at fostering their adoption. This study, conducted in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam investigates the factors influencing the utilization of rooftop solar power systems by 309 individuals. The research findings, analyzed through the Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) model, reveal that policies encouragement and support, strategic investment costs, product knowledge and experience, perceived benefits assessment, and environmental attitudes collectively serve as predictors for the decision to use rooftop solar power systems. Furthermore, the study delves into mediating and moderating effects between variables within the model. This research not only addresses a knowledge gap but also furnishes policymakers with evidence to chart new directions for encouraging the widespread adoption of solar power systems.