Paper long abstract:

Tanzania and Vietnam are very different countries and one cannot compare the socialist past in both countries as such. However, in both countries there was the expectation that the incentives of the market would lead to a supply response in the economy that would revitalize the economy. That has happened spectacularly in rural Vietnam: it became a major force on the rice and coffee markets in a short time. The Tanzanian economy displayed strong growth sectors after liberalization in mining and tourism, but not in small scale agriculture. The paper will argue that the Vietnamese supply response was besides liberalization also the result of investment in infrastructure, credit for green revolution packages and supported by government intervention in markets. This was absent in Tanzania and there was instead a strong reliance on the private sector to revive the traditional export sectors and food production.