The editors of The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development have announced that the winner of the Best Paper Prize for 2015 is Dr. Nguyen Viet Cuong, Vice-Director of Mekong Development Research Institute, for his paper “The impact of trade facilitation on poverty and inequality: Evidence from low- and middle-income countries.” The paper was […]

The world was closely watching the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on December 15th-16th, 2015. The Fed is expected to increase the fed fund target rate over the next several years until it reaches a normal rate for a healthy economy. This nominalization of the interest rate in the U.S. will have consequences […]

For MDRI and our networks of partners and collaborators, 2015 has been a fruitful year with plenty of amazing stories and experiences: We went up the mountains for the Impact Assessment of Central Highlands Poverty Reduction Project and climbed down the deep forests for socio-economic survey for Emission Reduction-Program (ER-P) Provinces area. We worked with […]

Our ER-P (REDD+) survey team has been working in the field for a week now. For many of the enumerators, it has become the experience of a lifetime: enduring the cold and wind in the most remote mountainous villages, eating the strangest food offered by the hospitable ethnic minority households, walking through muddy slopes for hours during the night […]

In early December 2015, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment held a National Conference on Strengthening the Management of Land Under Agricultural/Forestry Enterprises and Forest Management Boards Originated from State-Owned Agricultural/Forestry Farms. The report presented at the conference was prepared by the following group of consultants: Dr. Nguyen Do Anh Tuan (Director General, Institute […]

After nearly one year of conducting the Central Highlands Poverty Reduction Project baseline survey and analysis, the Project Management Unit (Ministry of Planning and Investment) organized a one-day mini workshop on October 23rd, 2015 to share the results with representatives from the six project provinces. At the workshop, Dr. Phung Duc Tung, Director of Mekong Development Research […]

Mekong Development Research Institute (MDRI) has been entrusted to conduct independent impact evaluation for the Vietnam Escuela Nueva Project (VNEN) – a highly anticipated initiative towards reforming the primary education system – since 2013. The institute has been working closely with the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and the World Bank (WB) to prepare […]

MDRI has been entrusted to prepare the Vietnam Millennium Development Goal reports in 2013 and 2015. The report documents Viet Nam’s remarkable success in lifting 43 million people, or 45 percent of the total population, out of poverty. Universal primary education and gender equality in education have been achieved, with primary school enrollment reaching 99 […]