Research Activities

There exists a prevalent view that good institutions are indispensable for economic growth. With regard to the recent economic performance of Myanmar and Vietnam, this research project addresses two related questions: to what extent institutions account for their contrasting economic performances, and why the paths of institutional development have diverged between the two countries. While there is a large gap in the economic performances of the two countries, their initial economic conditions were similar when they both started economic reforms and integration into the international market in the late 1980s. The contrasting economic performances of both countries in the last two decades might be attributable to their divergent paths of institutional developments. Through a comparison of the development of the financial system, agricultural sector and trade sector of two countries, this project studies the impacts of economic institutions on economic performance and the dynamics of institutional development or stagnation.

April 2010 - February 2012