Agricultural export, logistics performance, and institutional quality: The case of Vietnam

Agricultural export has contributed greatly to Vietnamese economy over the past decades. Nevertheless, logistics performance and institutional quality have been identified as chronic inhibitors and bottlenecks which hamper the export growth of Vietnam. This paper aimed at investigating whether agricultural export was hindered logistically and institutionally. The considered case was Vietnam and major trading partners in the 2007-2018 period. The panel data analysis with fixed and random effects for the baseline estimation was used. Findings indicated that the agricultural export was positively influenced by income per capita and economic and institutional quality similarity between trading partners. Improved logistics performance may unintentionally cause a short term decrease in agricultural export. Institutional quality needs to be enhanced with substantive and specific contents related to the agricultural sector, which mitigates the institutional inequality between industries and locals in the economy.