Nguyen Duc Thanh, Vietnam

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Director, Vietnam Centre for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR)
University of Economics and Business
Vietnam National University, Hanoi
Ph.D. (’08)

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What is your area of specialization and how did you come to work in this area?

I am working as an economist in Vietnam, specializing in macroeconomic problems and some selected development issues of the country. I came to work in this area because I have had a strong passion to be an economist since I was a student, and all of my graduate education and training were toward the track. Luckily or ironically, when I returned to Vietnam after my studies in Japan, many macroeconomic and development issues became problematic, and I had various opportunities to engage directly in dealing with the current situations.

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After obtaining your Ph.D. from GRIPS in 2008, you returned to Vietnam and set up the Vietnam Centre for Economic and Policy Research, a research center within the Vietnam National University. Please tell us about its activities and your mission as its Founder and Director.

My scholarship for the Ph.D. program at GRIPS ended in September 2006, and I came back to Vietnam with my dissertation just almost done. Actually, it was the time for me to finalize the dissertation and waiting for the final defense. (Prof. Kenichi Ohno – my main supervisor – had been very strict on the quality of my dissertation and on the conditions for being accepted as completed. I must thank him for that once more.) As a matter of fact, I had quite a lot of free time waiting for coming back to Tokyo for the defense. I then accepted to join the Minister of Finance’s Policy Advisory Group (PAG), which was established as an experiment to set up a technocrat group assisting a government body (the project was funded by UNDP Vietnam). After joining the Group, I helped the Group leader to recruit a number of members (researchers). We then formed a very interesting group including young radical economists. All of us received graduate education in economics from advanced countries, and share a common view on the economy and the reforms it needs. However, the experiment seemed not successful as many departments in the Ministry did not like us very much, and we agreed to stop working there around mid 2008. That was the time that we came up with the idea of establishing a research center by ourselves, independent from any government body and financial source. However, to fully commit to the center involved some risks, as all of us had already had some stable positions in the country’s leading academic institutions, and the model of a research center without financial support from the Government or some international sponsors did not exist so far. I myself thought that once we establish the center, we must fully concentrate on and contribute all efforts to the operation of the center, otherwise it cannot survive. Therefore, I decided to take the risk by myself, leaving my post at the National Economics University that I had been keeping since before I left for Japan. I then founded the Vietnam Centre for Economic and Policy Research (VEPR) in July 2008, with encouragement from our old PAG members and a host university, which is the University of Economics and Business, a member of the Vietnam National University, Ha Noi.

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Since its establishment, I have acted as VEPR’s Director. My mission is to manage and develop VEPR into a recognized think tank in the country. VEPR’s mandate is to improve the quality of economic policy making process and policy decisions in Vietnam. Our slogan is “Good Policy, Sound Economy,” as we believe that better policies will contribute to building a better economy and therefore society.

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It was quite hard at the beginning, but really exciting. At some difficult moments, I had to go out to teach some short courses I never taught before in order to have money to run the center. We were then gradually recognized through our research, consultation and involvement with public affairs through the media. Finally, we began to establish our own reputation and influence on the economic profession, policy maker community and the society in general.

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You are also a member of the Economic Committee’s Macroeconomic Advisory Group of the Vietnam National Assembly and were invited by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to give your analysis and views about Vietnam’s inflation problem. What do you see as the main challenges and opportunities for Vietnam for the coming 5 to 10 years?

I think Vietnam has been, and will be facing with the problem of too much state’s involvement into the economy. The state owned enterprise (SOE) system still dominates the economy, and consumes a huge proportion of the country’s resources. They also influence the policy making process at the highest level. Unfortunately, SOEs are far from efficient. Therefore, the resources they occupy are not efficiently used, and the policy they try to shape are not toward promoting profit making activities, but more toward rent seeking activities by creating and maintaining their privileges and monopoly. As the investment from the State and the SOEs accounts for a huge amount annually, it also creates fundamental imbalances in the economy. These imbalances, in combination with the Government’s inexperience in policy mix, have been generating the macroeconomic instability (inflation as one indicator) and other macroeconomic issues in the Vietnamese economy recently. These issues, along with the needs for the structural reforms and effective international integration, will be main challenges for Vietnam in the coming decade.

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It seems you are truly becoming one of the young leaders in your country. What achievements are you most proud of and what has been the most rewarding aspect of your career thus far?

What I feel most proud of is probably the influence we have created in the Vietnamese society at present. My colleagues and I have a firm belief that we can influence the society by our knowledge and will, and contribute to the general cause of changing the society. Although our contribution may be still marginal, we are proud because we can follow our beliefs and are beginning to wield some influence.

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Have you always wanted to pursue a career in academia? What attracts you most about it? If you could choose another profession to be in, what would it be?

Great Austrian economist Carl Menger was said to say if he had seven sons, they should all study economics. And Nobel Laureate Robert Lucas also once wrote that “once one starts to think about them [economic development issues], it is hard to think about anything else.” I’m happy to share these great economists’ passion and vision on the economic profession. And day by day, I learn more from their teachings and the reality as I observe it. I really enjoy my academic career, and have I had another opportunity to choose, I would choose economics again.

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How has your time and studies in Japan influenced you in your subsequent life and career?

The time in Tokyo is one of the happiest and most formative times in my life. I learnt a lot not only in the economics profession, but also about the realities of the external world, including Japan with her long rich history, and other countries that I travelled to from Japan during that time. GRIPS has a lot of resources for research, great professors, kind staff, and studying there providing me with many travel opportunities. I have been truly transformed during the time in GRIPS.

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What is your fondest memory of your time spent in Japan? And what do you miss about Japan?

Japan has many things for us to miss, I am sure, once we had lived there long enough. I miss Odaiba where I stayed, colorful and exciting festivals that I attended. And a fond memory that comes to my mind now is the image that I saw in an early morning in GRIPS, after working through the night, I suddenly found that snow was falling from the white sky, quietly, everywhere, outside the window… And there are many people and friends to miss…

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What is your favorite thing to do when you are not working?

I spend time with my kids, playing or going out with them, or visiting artists who are my friends or those I will become friends with… Recently I have become interested in collecting fine paintings from Vietnamese artists, so I very much enjoy talking to the artists and discussing their paintings

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How do you maintain a balance between your work and the rest of your life?

I enjoy the moments with my family members, with friends I meet, old and new, with the regions I travel to, and do not think too much and too far about what I am doing and their consequences or impacts. I just follow what I believe in.

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What advice would you give to current GRIPS students?

Spend your time studying hard, enjoying Japan’s culture and learning it’s rich history. I also advice you to travel as much as possible in Japan and if possible, to other countries. Try not to save money but use your stipend for travelling and exploring Japan and the world. This may be your only chance and by doing so you will accumulate human capital which is much more valuable then the money you might have brought home. (I know that because many friends of mine in GRIPS and Japan try to save during the time in Japan).

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Do you have any suggestions on how to further strengthen and utilize the GRIPS alumni network?

I think we should have more networking, more events by ourselves or/and by GRIPS’ facilitation. The alumni can also do joint research projects or broader cooperation as our community has been increasingly gaining influence and presence in our countries. The networking and cooperation could aim at fostering individuals’ profession development as well as the development of their countries. I believe these activities will be warmly welcomed, and be truly effective.