ABSTRACT
Vietnam's economy is among the world's least developed, yet its state sector as a proportion of the whole was exceptionally large by comparison with other countries. During the 1980s, the state sector in Vietnam accounted for eighty-five to eighty-seven percent of the total value of fixed assets and ninety-five percent of the skilled and technical work force. In Vietnam, the state had a monopoly not only in management, supervision, and guidance over the national economy, which was necessary and correct, but also in various fields of business such as foreign trade, home trade, banking, services, transport, post, manufacturing, and so forth. Until 1988, Vietnam had a basically closed-door economy in spite of its relatively generous law on foreign investment. This characteristic was an effect of the country's economic inefficiency, which prevented Vietnamese corporations from having profitable dealings with foreign partners and vice-versa.
