| Summary/Abstract |
Government actions influence a country's economic performance. However, the debate about the effects of government budget deficit on economic growth remains unsettled. On the one hand, deficit is believed to trigger high tax rates, which can decrease productivity and deter private investment. On the other, deficit spending is assumed to complement business investment and stimulate economic productivity. This article assesses the probability of such claims for the Vietnamese government's fiscal policy between 1989 and 2011. After the introduction of the Doi Moi reform policy in the late 1990s, Vietnam has witnessed high economic growth. Yet, its government's deficit pattern is among the highest in Southeast Asia. The findings demonstrate that in the case of Vietnam, government deficits had no direct effects on the country's economic productivity between 1989 and 2011. Instead, the article discovers that foreign direct investment (FDI) played an important role in Vietnam's economic productivity over the same period, while real interest rates adversely affect growth. This article concludes that rather than an expansion of the public sector through government spending deficit, Vietnam requires administrative and regulatory reforms to ensure an efficient use of government resources, a continuous flow of foreign capital, and consistent economic growth.
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