Dr. Nguyen Duc Bao and his students
After many times trying hard to make contacts but no appointments could be arranged because of his tight schedule, finally in the afternoon of a day shortly before the Lunar New Year 2020 I (the reporter) managed to have an opportunity sitting with Dr. Nguyen Duc Bao - a young, dynamic lecturer at the Faculty of Political Economy, VNU University of Economics and Business who recently had his paper published in The World Economy journal in 2020 with the title of: "Financial Intermediation, Trade Agreements, and International Trade.”
Reporter: Good afternoon Dr. Nguyen Duc
Bao. Could you please briefly introduce your paper recently published in The World Economy
to help readers get a general understanding of your research work?
Dr. Nguyen Duc Bao: The paper of "Financial
intermediation, trade agreements and international trade"
written by Professor Anne-Gaël Vaubourg (University of Poitiers, France) and me
was to determine whether favorable effects of financial intermediation for
export will be weakened when there is a free trade agreement (RTA) between exporting
and importing countries. The evidence demonstrated the existence of such effects
when two countries involve in a RTA, as a result, financial intermediation is
mitigated in export promotion.
Using a
gravity model on a data set of 69 developed and developing countries over the
period 1986-2006, we indicated that the trade-promoting role of financial
intermediation in the exporting country is mitigated when this country faces
low exporting costs, that is when there is a RTA between this country and the
importing one. We also establish that this mitigating effect is reduced in
financially constrained sectors, for which the role of financial intermediation
remains crucial. Finally, we find evidence that the same trade-boosting effect
and the same interaction with RTAs prevail for financial intermediation in the
importing country.
Dr. Nguyen Duc Bao as a lecturer of the Faculty of Political Economy, VNU-UEB
Reporter:
What makes you feel most proud of your paper and can you share a featured piece
of its content?
Dr. Nguyen Duc Bao:
In my opinion, the article indicates clearly the novelty and originality as the
research ideas and methodologies that we presented in it have not been applied
in any previous research with a regard to this topic. Readers can refer the
following paragraph to get a better understanding of the article: "To
our knowledge, this study is one of the first to identify the impacts of the
interaction term between a financial intermediation indicator with regional
trade agreements on international trade within a panel data gravity model."
Dr. Bao’ offers a classroom where he himself as a lecturer and his students
exchange knowledge
Reporter:
Why did you choose this topic for your research?
Dr. Nguyen Duc Bao:
This paper was based on my PhD dissertation which I defended successfully in
November 2019 at the University of Bordeaux, France. The initial ideas of the
paper derived two years ago and the final revisions of the paper were taken in the
first days when I started working for VNU University of Economics and Business.
This research demonstrates the intersection between international economics theories
and international finance ones. Noticeably, I had a great honor to conduct this
research and publish the paper together with my PhD co-instructor, Professor
Anne-Gaël Vaubourg.
“Keep
doing research and keep learning, it’s how I choose to dedicate myself” says
Dr. Nguyen Duc Bao
Reporter:
After studying abroad for a long time, why did you choose VNU University of
Economics and Business as your destination? And how do you feel about the working
environment at VNU-UEB after having worked for a while?
Dr. Nguyen Duc Bao:
Before coming back to Vietnam, I had learnt that VNU-UEB is a highly dynamic, open
environment for research, international cooperation and teaching. From the very
of beginning, I was provided with greatly helpful support, instructions, experiences
in how to integrate into a new workplace by the teachers at the Faculty of
Political Economy and the staffs at the University. Moreover, VNU-UEB and VNU are
quite similar to the school I had studied in France. The University of Bordeaux
is a regional school with a very strong linkage among its faculties and
affiliated universities. I look forward to participating into and contributing to
VNU-UEB through various studies carried out in collaboration with my colleagues,
graduate and undergraduate students at the University.
“VNU-UEB
makes me feels like being in the university I used to study in France”, Nguyen Duc Bao said
Reporter: Could
you please share some information about your upcoming orientations in teaching
and research at VNU-UEB?
Dr. Nguyen Duc Bao: Firstly, I try my best to complete the tasks assigned by the
Faculty of Political Economy and VNU-UEB. I hold a strong hope that I will
produce good-quality research products in collaboration with my colleagues in
the Faculty of Political Economy and the University which helps to establish a
research orientation in long term based on my own professional expertise and
with more scientific exchanges, and multidisciplinary research within the VNU
ecosystem. In particular, I hope to have opportunities to carry out researches with
the international teachers and colleagues whom I have had the opportunity to
learn and cooperate with when studying and doing research abroad.
Dr. Nguyen Duc Bao is not only a lecturer but also an academic mentor for many
UEBers
Reporter: To have an article published in a highly prestigious international
journal like The World Economy, it must be a long and arduous journey. Could you
please share more about the period of time you experienced to make the paper?
Dr. Nguyen Duc
Bao: As you know when writing any
paper, we cannot know what it will be like in advance. Therefore, I always keep
thinking about how can improve my paper, who can guide me through the journey, which
colleagues can help me solve problems and not afraid of criticizing. Actually, it
takes years for a paper from the conception of very initial ideas of the paper and
the completion of the ideas of it to the time it is accepted to be published in
an international journal, therefore you must be mindful for it for sure. And
now, I can see that VNU-UEB is providing a lot of supports for many aspects of
my research and young scientists working here.
Reporter: Thank you Dr. Nguyen Duc Bao for today's interview. I wish
you to have more research projects contributing to the domestic science and many
innovations in teaching at VNU-UEB.
“The World Economy” journal is an important resource for
researchers, analysts and policy advisors who are interested in trade policy
and other open economic issues including: International Trade and
Environment, International Finance, Trade and Development. The journal also examines
areas with a regards to economies in transformation and developing economies
so as to provide necessary references for in-depth and updated knowledge of international
economics.
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