Learning to be Capitalists: Entrepreneurs in Vietnam's Transition Economy

Annette Miae Kim

oct 2008 · Oxford University Press

Acerca de este libro electrónico

Why have some countries been able to escape the usual dead end of international development efforts and build explosively growing capitalist economies? Based on years of fieldwork, this book provides a detailed account of the first generation of entrepreneurs in Vietnam in comparison to those in other transition countries. Focusing on the emergence of private land development firms in Ho Chi Minh City, the author shows how within seven years the private sector produced the majority of all new houses in the real estate market. This book demonstrates that capitalist entrepreneurialism was not the result of state initiative, properly incentivized policies, or individual personality traits. Rather, a society-wide reconstruction of cognitive paradigms enabled entrepreneurs to emerge and transformed Vietnam from a poor, centrally planned economy to one of the fastest growing, market economies in the world.

Acerca del autor

Annette M. Kim is Ford International Career Development Professor of International Urban Development at M.I.T.'s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. She teaches courses on property rights, public finance, housing, and project appraisal in developing countries.