A Short Economic History of Vietnam, 1945–1986

Abstract

Measured by modem economic standards, Vietnam has been very poor throughout its history. Its largely agrarian economy did not permit the accumulation of surpluses which would have fuelled economic development. While handicrafts and small-scale industry certainly did thrive, economic development in the Western sense began only after the mid-nineteenth century, under the impetus of French colonialism. Subjected to colonial exploitation, and then Soviet-style socialist development, Vietnam achieved a per capita income of only US$94 in 1981. This figure rose to US$138 by 1991, by which point some 70 per cent of its population still fell under the poverty line. Another decade later, however, its per capita income climbed to more than US$400, and the Vietnamese government claims that the percentage of people beneath the poverty line was halved, to 32 per cent.¹