The Returning Diaspora: Analyzing overseas Vietnamese (Viet Kieu) Contributions toward Vietnam's Economic Growth

This paper focuses on the contributions of the Vietnamese Diaspora to Vietnam’s economic growth by examining its unique formation and subsequent actual and potential impact on the emerging economy. A review of recent government policy toward the Vietnamese Diaspora and their official contributions reveal that the Diaspora has used informal networks as their primary route to make investments. This paper seeks to establish that there is the emergence of an integrated Vietnamese Diaspora network—a combination of formal organizations and the existing informal networks—facilitating the greater investment, flow and knowledge exchange between the Vietnamese Diaspora and Vietnam increasing the overall Diaspora contribution to Vietnam’s economic growth.