Almost four decades after the Vietnam War ended, Saigon has turned the tables on Hanoi, outstripping its conqueror in investment and growth.
The former southern capital, renamed Ho Chi Minh City but still widely known by its prewar name, contributes almost a quarter of the country's gross domestic product and the market capitalization of its stock index is seven times Hanoi's. Now, Saigon is upping the ante with plans to build a new airport that would increase capacity as much as fivefold.
"By all measures, Ho Chi Minh City has moved into a more advanced place than Hanoi in terms of the sophistication of its economy and local companies," said Edmund Malesky, an associate professor of political economy at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, and the lead researcher for the Vietnam Provincial Competitiveness Index , compiled by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry with U.S. aid.
