The film “Vietnam: Overcoming Poverty Through Market Economy” won the award for “Best International Documentary” at the ANTHEM Film Festival held in Palm Springs on June 14, 2025. ANTHEM is the world’s largest libertarian film festival, attracting 2,000 attendees this year. Produced by Tomasz Agencki and myself, the film was introduced by American economist Mark Skousen and Steve Forbes, editor of Forbes magazine.
Forbes stated, “Donald Trump should watch this film.” Some argue that Trump only threatened other countries with high tariffs as a strategy to achieve lower tariffs as the final outcome. “He threatened Vietnam with 46 percent tariffs, but Vietnam responded with a reciprocal zero percent rate. Why doesn’t Trump take advantage of that offer?” Forbes, a relentless critic of the former president’s tariff policy, questioned.
The documentary shows how Vietnam, once the poorest country in the world, reduced the percentage of people living in poverty from 80 percent in the early 1990s to just 3 percent today. In the early 1990s, Vietnam’s per capita gross national product was only $98 per year, even lower than that of Somalia or Sierra Leone. Today, Vietnam is one of the most economically dynamic countries in the world and, although it still calls itself “socialist,” its recipe for success is based on clearly capitalist principles.
Renovation
In the late 1980s, Vietnam launched an economic reform program known as Đổi Mới, meaning “renovation” or “reform.” These measures introduced the right to private property, opened the economy to foreign investment, and implemented market-oriented reforms in numerous sectors. No country of similar size has gained as many points in the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom between 1995 and today as Vietnam.
The film features several successful entrepreneurs, including Kao Seu Luc, founder of the country’s most successful bakery chain. Originally from Cambodia, Luc narrowly escaped the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. “I was on the execution list in Cambodia and arrived in Vietnam with no money, no contacts, and not speaking the language,” recounted this self-made businessman.
Also featured in the documentary are Xuan Phuong, one of the country’s leading manufacturers of incense sticks, and entrepreneur Nguyen Quoc Thong, who explain that in Vietnam, entrepreneurs and wealthy individuals are held in high regard. This perception is confirmed by surveys indicating that social envy in Vietnam is very low, even lower than in many European countries.
In addition to economic reforms, Vietnam’s success is also based on cultural factors and a particular mindset: despite having been devastated by wars with Americans, Chinese, Japanese, and French forces during the last century, the Vietnamese people did not blame other countries for their misery. They looked inward for the roots of their poverty. As shown by surveys and interviews in the documentary, Americans enjoy a very positive image in Vietnam today, despite the devastating war that pitted the two countries against each other.
Four lessons for other countries
What can developing countries learn from Vietnam?
The only real way out of poverty is more capitalism, not development aid.
International investment, free trade, and globalization are not harmful to poor countries but deeply beneficial.
When entrepreneurs and the wealthy are seen as role models rather than scapegoats, they inspire society and contribute to a nation’s economic recovery.
The same rule applies to countries and individuals: if you blame others for your problems and don’t look inward for the reasons behind your failures, you will never succeed.
It is true that inequality has increased in Vietnam as a result of market economy reforms. However, Vietnamese people do not consider this a significant problem. Their priority remains overcoming poverty, not achieving greater equality.
Politically, Vietnam remains a one-party state with limited freedom of expression. But economically, it has clearly distanced itself from traditional socialist principles. Tax burdens and public spending are considerably lower than in most Western countries.
The film is based on the book “How Nations Escape Poverty,” which was nominated this year for the prestigious Hayek Award from the Manhattan Institute.
This article was originally published by the Juan de Mariana Institute.
Rainer Zitelmann