Rent Seeking and the Economic Mindset in Vietnam

In the previous discussion about financialization in Vietnam, the central concern was the growing dominance of financial and speculative activities over real economic production. Closely related to this phenomenon is another structural issue that affects many developing economies, including Vietnam. This issue is the prevalence of rent seeking behavior. 

Rent seeking refers to the pursuit of income not through productive activity, innovation, or value creation, but through control of scarce resources, regulatory advantages, or privileged access. Instead of competing by building better products, improving efficiency, or developing new technologies, individuals and companies attempt to capture economic value by influencing rules, exploiting market barriers, or securing favorable positions within the system. 

At the institutional level, rent seeking can appear in many forms. It may involve the control of land allocation, licensing regimes, regulatory approvals, monopolistic distribution rights, or preferential access to government projects. Rather than generating new wealth for the economy, these activities primarily redistribute existing wealth toward those who hold structural advantages.

The historical conditions of Vietnam’s economic transition help explain why these patterns emerge. As a former centrally planned economy that has gradually liberalized over the past several decades, Vietnam still contains sectors where market forces coexist with administrative control. In such an environment the allocation of resources is not always determined purely by competition and productivity. Access to approvals, relationships, and institutional channels can become decisive factors.

This creates powerful incentives. When the returns from securing privileged access are higher and more predictable than the returns from building competitive businesses, rational actors often choose the former. Capital, talent, and effort shift toward activities designed to capture economic rents rather than create new value.

However, rent seeking in Vietnam is not only an institutional phenomenon. It also appears deeply in the economic mindset of individuals.

One revealing example is the common Vietnamese phrase used to describe economic activity. People often say “kiếm tiền.”

The phrase literally means to seek money. 

This wording reflects a subtle orientation toward economic life. The focus is not necessarily on building value, producing something useful, or creating solutions that others are willing to pay for. The emphasis is often on identifying where money already exists and positioning oneself close enough to capture it.

Of course, the phrase itself is not inherently problematic. Every society has expressions related to making money. Yet language often reflects deeper patterns of thinking. When individuals think primarily in terms of seeking money rather than creating value, business decisions tend to follow a certain pattern.

Instead of asking what product can be developed, what technology can be built, or what process can be improved, people often ask a different question. Where is money already moving, and how can a portion of it be captured. 

This mindset encourages activities such as arbitrage, brokerage, speculation, and intermediary roles that depend more on access than on capability. A business opportunity becomes defined less by the ability to solve a problem and more by the ability to capture a margin.

At the micro level this mentality influences how many entrepreneurs approach markets. Businesses are often built around identifying price differences, distribution gaps, or regulatory advantages rather than developing durable competitive advantages. The business model becomes a form of positioning rather than creation.

When this mindset spreads across many individuals it reinforces rent seeking behavior across the broader economy. Talent flows toward activities that capture value rather than create it. Capital follows opportunities that provide quick margins rather than long term productivity improvements. Innovation becomes secondary to positioning.

The consequences for long term economic development are significant.

First, rent seeking reduces overall economic efficiency. Resources are diverted away from productive sectors and toward activities that do not increase the total output of the economy. Companies may invest more effort in maintaining favorable positions than in improving products or services.

Second, it weakens innovation. When success depends more on access and positioning than on technological capability or operational excellence, the incentive to innovate diminishes. Over time this slows the development of advanced industries and reduces competitiveness on the global stage.

Third, rent seeking distorts competition. Firms that operate through privileged access can outperform more efficient competitors not because they serve customers better but because they benefit from structural advantages.

Finally, these dynamics reinforce inequality and social frustration. Economic success appears to depend less on effort, creativity, and competence and more on connections and positioning. This perception weakens trust in economic institutions and reduces confidence in the fairness of the market system.

It is important to recognize that these patterns are not unique to Vietnam. Many developing and transitional economies experience similar dynamics during periods of institutional transformation. However, long term economic success depends on gradually shifting incentives toward productive activity.

Countries that have successfully industrialized did so by directing capital and talent toward industries that create real value. Manufacturing capability, technological innovation, and export competitiveness became the engines of sustainable growth.

Vietnam has already demonstrated strong potential in many of these areas. The country has built a powerful export manufacturing sector and developed a vibrant entrepreneurial community. These achievements show that Vietnamese businesses are fully capable of creating real value when market competition operates effectively.

The challenge moving forward is to expand these productive dynamics across more sectors of the economy.

This transformation requires both institutional and cultural change. Regulatory systems must become more transparent and predictable so that success depends less on access and more on capability. At the same time entrepreneurs and investors must gradually shift their mindset from seeking money toward building value.

Ultimately the strength of an economy depends not only on how much capital circulates within it but on how that capital is generated. Societies grow stronger when wealth comes from building things that others genuinely need rather than from controlling positions that others cannot access.

Vietnam stands at an important stage of development. The balance between seeking money and creating value will play a decisive role in shaping the country’s economic trajectory in the decades ahead.