Christine Ngo

Education

• Ph.D., Economics (2013). School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, United Kingdom
• J.D., Law (2010). University of California, Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco, CA. Admitted to the California Bar Association, License # 277862
• MSc., Political Economy of Development (2009). School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, London, United Kingdom
• B.A., Global Economics (2005). University of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA

Research Interest

• Political Economy of Development
• Technological Change and Economic Growth
• International Trade

Courses

• ECON 101 Economic Principles / Problems
• ECON 127 International Economics
• ECON 281 Understanding Global Economics
• ECON 308 Economics Innovation

My research focuses on alternative approach to development analysis, technological change and innovations in emerging economies. I especially employ the heterodox approach to rent and rent-seeking as theoretical and analytical foundation. To assess development processes, I constructed a dynamic analytical model entitled Developmental Rent Management Analysis (DRMA). This model determines the ways in which local firms are incentivized and pressured to innovate and develop new capacity. The model primarily analyzes the macro-political context, institutional framework, industry structure and firms' capacity to understand the rent management mechanism that compels firms' performance.

My research provides empirical evidence to support the alternative view that rents can be developmental. In the context of pervasive negative externalities, industrial policies that inherently create rents could stimulate economic growth and development in poor countries. My research reveals how, in the Vietnamese experience, rents were be actively used to enhance development via technological adoption and capability building. These findings underscore the need to re-examine how economic actors and the state collaborate through formal and informal institutions that enhance industrial upgrading in developing countries. The study adds to the emerging scholarship that examines rent strategies necessary for industrial development.

My first book, Industrial Development in Planned Economies: Rent Seeking and PoliticoEconomic Interplay in Vietnam, is currently under contract with Routledge, and is forthcoming in 2019.

I am currently working on a couple different research projects that center on small and medium enterprise development, female entrepreneurship in industrial manufacturing, local value chain development, and the rise of China and its impact on developing countries. I am also researching and collecting data for the second book project entitled "State Power and Market Dynamics: Political Economy of Small and Medium Enterprise Development in Vietnam."

Selected Publications

Ngo, C. N. (forthcoming).Industrial Development in Planned Economies: Rent Seeking and Politico-Economic Interplay in Vietnam. London: Routledge. eISBN 978-1-315-65749-3.

Ngo, C. N. and McCann, C. (2018) "Rethinking Rent Seeking for Development and Technological Change." Journal of Evolutionary Economics.

Ngo, C. N. and Tarko, V. (2018) "Economic Development in a Rent-seeking Society: Socialism, State Capitalism and Crony Capitalism in Vietnam”. Canadian Journal of Development Studies.

Ngo, C. N. (2017). “Political Economy of Industrial Development in Vietnam’s Telecommunications Industry: A Rent Management Analysis”. Review of Political Economy. Vol. 29(3), pp. 454-477.

Ngo, C. N. (2017) "Industrial Development, Liberalisation and Impacts of Vietnam-China Border Trade: The Case of the Vietnamese Textile and Garment Sector.” European Journal of East Asian Studies. Vol. 16(1), pp. 154-184.

Ngo, C. N. (2016). “Local Value Chain Development in Vietnam: Technical Learning and Rents Management”. Journal of Contemporary Asia. Vol. 47(1), pp. 1-26.

Ngo, C. N. (2016). “Developmental Rent Management Analysis: Learning, Upgrading, and Innovation.” Journal of Economic Issues. Vol. 50(4), pp. 1045-1068.

Ngo, C. N. (2014). “Industrialization and the Triangular Rent-Seeking Relationship between Vietnam, Japan, and China in Vietnam’s Motorcycle Industry.” In O. Radonjic and C. Sinapi (eds.), Financial Instability and Economic Development in Emerging Markets: Controversies and Critical Issues, Limes Plus: Journal of Social Science and Humanities, Vol. XI (3): 177-208.