Hao Manh Quach

In this paper, the author develops an econometric framework to analyze the effect of access to credit on the economic welfare of households in Vietnam. The findings confirm that household credit contributes positively and significantly to the economic welfare of households in terms of per capita expenditure, per capita food expenditure and per capita non-food expenditure. The positive effect of credit on household economic welfare is observed regardless of whether they are poor or better-off households. The author also finds that credit has a greater positive effect on the economic welfare of poorer households and finds that the age of the household head, the household size, land ownership, and savings and the availability of credit at village level are key factors that affect household borrowing. Some policy implications are drawn

This paper examines the effect of tax policy on housing prices in Vietnam for the period from October 2004 to September 2016 using event study approach. The authors find that all five key changes made to the personal income tax, corporate income tax and non-farm land use tax have caused the housing prices to decline on average 6-11% during the event window, but only the impact of the personal income tax changes is statistically significant. The fact that changes in housing prices are mostly seen prior to the effective date of the tax policy change implies that tax policy change indeed has influenced the housing prices in Vietnam. Although this research has not examined the mechanism through which tax policy has influenced the housing prices, the findings offer some implications for the government in terms of using tax policy for controlling housing prices in Vietnam. The research is also of very few papers in this literature that use the event study approach.