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Seeds of Reform: Lessons from Vietnam about Informality and Institutional Change

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  • Annette M. Kim

Abstract

Ordinary North Korean citizens have been coping with economic hardship by eking out livelihoods for themselves. Grassroots markets and local petty economies have become commonplace. A point of conjecture amongst scholars and policymakers is whether these developments may be the start of significant economic system change towards a market economy. This article reviews lessons learned from the transition economies about the informal and social processes required to effectively realize major economic transitions in order to discuss the preliminary evidence we have about North Korea's current informal civilian economic activity. Applying a social cognition theory of institutional change focuses our attention onto the discretionary behavior of local government, the social structure and networks that form firms and exemplars, and the social trust needed to move to new economic paradigms. It also discusses what the operations of hwa-gyo entrepreneurs, ethnic Chinese living in North Korea, pose to the existing state of the literature.

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  • Annette M. Kim, 2012. "Seeds of Reform: Lessons from Vietnam about Informality and Institutional Change," International Economic Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(3), pages 391-406, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:intecj:v:26:y:2012:i:3:p:391-406
    DOI: 10.1080/10168737.2012.707870
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gérard Roland, 2004. "Transition and Economics: Politics, Markets, and Firms," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026268148x, December.
    2. Martin L. Weitzman & Chenggang Xu, 1997. "Chinese Township-Village Enterprises as Vaguely Defined Cooperatives," International Economic Association Series, in: John E. Roemer (ed.), Property Relations, Incentives and Welfare, chapter 12, pages 326-355, Palgrave Macmillan.
    3. Noland, Marcus & Haggard, Stephan, 2007. "Famine in North Korea: Markets, Aid, and Reform," MPRA Paper 92548, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Nancy Wiegersma, 1988. "Vietnam: Peasant Land, Peasant Revolution," Palgrave Macmillan Books, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-09970-2, June.
    5. Kim, Annette Miae, 2008. "Learning to be Capitalists: Entrepreneurs in Vietnam's Transition Economy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195369397.
    6. Ho, Peter, 2005. "Institutions in Transition: Land Ownership, Property Rights, and Social Conflict in China," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199280698.
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    Cited by:

    1. Yingmin Huang & Desheng Xue & Gengzhi Huang, 2021. "Economic Development, Informal Land-Use Practices and Institutional Change in Dongguan, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Kim, Hyung Min, 2020. "International Real Estate Investment and Urban Development: An Analysis of Korean Activities in Hanoi, Vietnam," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

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