Reproducibility package for Trade Finance Use By Heterogeneous Firms
Reference ID
RR_VNM_2026_622
Author(s)
Francesca de Nicola, Alexandros Ragoussis, Tim Schmidt-Eisenlohr, Trang Thu Tran
Collections
Metadata
Created on
May 20, 2026
Last modified
May 27, 2026
Overview
Abstract
Letters of credit are a key trade finance instrument that covers more than 10 percent of global trade, with a notably larger role in low- and middle-income economies. Studying detailed trade data from Viet Nam, we document how letter of credit use varies with firm characteristics. We show that the probability of using a letter of credit is systematically lower for younger, smaller, and foreign-owned trading firms. Importers that are less diversified or have less trading experience are more likely to use letters of credit. Firm characteristics have the strongest effects in markets where information is scarce and enforcement is weak. These patterns are consistent with a model in which the ability to screen trading partners and the cost of bank intermediation vary with firm characteristics, and where a firm's screening ability and country institutions are substitutes. Any policy or intervention that aims at increasing the use of bank-intermediated trade finance will therefore need to takefirm heterogeneity into account.
Reproducibility Package
Scripts
File name
RR_VNM_2026_622
Zip package
RR_VNM_2026_622.zip
Title
Reproducibility package for Trade Finance Use By Heterogeneous Firms
Date
2026-05
Dependencies
Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder.
Instructions
See README in reproducibility package.
Notes
Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.
Source code repository
| Repository name | URI |
|---|---|
| Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank) | https://reproducibility.worldbank.org |
Software
Name
Stata
Version
19.0 MP
Reproducibility
Technology environment
Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:
• OS: Windows 11 Enterprise
• Processor: INTEL(R) XEON(R) PLATINUM 8562Y+ 2.80 GHz (2 processors)
• Memory available: 32.0 G
Technology requirements
Run time: ~ 90 minutes
Reproduction instructions
To reproduce the findings in this paper, a replicator must:
- Secure Access to Data: Access the datasets not included in the package. See the Datasets section for more details.
- Run the Package:
- Restore the environment in "code_clening/environment.txt", and run the scripts in order:
_seaport_1_match.pyand_seaport_2_compute.py. - Update the working directory in line 15 of the do-file
00_master.do, and run it.
Since some of the original data cannot be redistributed, the package includes the outputs produced by the authors, which can be used to review the results presented in the paper.
Data
Datasets
Name
Vietnam Enterprise Survey
Note
Data accessed in September 2024. Vietnamese firm-level panel data covering 2007–2016, acquired through the Industrial Statistics Department of GSO Vietnam. File location: raw_data/vnm_2007-2016.dta.
Access policy
Data access was granted directly to the study authors by the data owners. It was obtained with a custom data license that does not allow for redistribution and it is not included in the reproducibility package.
License
Custom License
Citation
General Statistics Office of Vietnam. 2024. "Vietnam Statistical Yearbook" [dataset]. Hanoi: GSO. Accessed September 2024.
Name
Vietnam Customs Trade Data
Note
Data accessed in October 2024. Acquired through the Industrial Statistics Department of GSO Vietnam. Redistribution is prohibited. Includes three files: (1) Export-import activity indicators and flags for matching with firm data (raw_data/_expimp.dta); (2) Annual import data by firm and product at HS 6-digit level with aggregated values and transaction counts (raw_data/import_annual_no_est.dta); (3) Annual export data by firm and product at HS 6-digit level with aggregated values and transaction counts (raw_data/export_annual_no_est.dta).
Access policy
Data access was granted directly to the study authors by the data owners. It was obtained with a custom data license that does not allow for redistribution and it is not included in the reproducibility package.
License
Custom License
Citation
Vietnam Customs Authority. 2024. "Trade Statistics Database" [dataset]. Accessed October 2024.
Name
Vietnam Enterprise Database
Note
Data accessed in October 2024. Firm-level panel data in pre-merge format containing financial and operational characteristics covering 2016–2022, acquired through the Industrial Statistics Department of GSO Vietnam. Redistribution is prohibited. File location: raw_data/firms_panel_premerge.dta.
Access policy
Data access was granted directly to the study authors by the data owners. It was obtained with a custom data license that does not allow for redistribution and it is not included in the reproducibility package.
License
Custom License
Citation
Vietnam Ministry of Finance. 2024. "Enterprise Database" [dataset]. Hanoi. Accessed October 2024.
Name
Vietnam Trade Finance Firm Level Survey
Note
Data accessed in August 2022. Firm survey data collected by the IFC, companion to the IFC and WTO (2023) report "Trade Finance in the Mekong Region: A Study of Cambodia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Viet Nam." File location: raw_data/survey_ready_2023-08-22.dta.
Access policy
Data is forthcoming in the internal World Bank Microdata Library.
Citation
IFC. 2023. "Trade Finance Firm Level Survey – Viet Nam 2019–2021" [dataset]. Forthcoming in the World Bank Microdata Library. Accessed August 2022.
Name
Worldwide Governance Indicators – Rule of Law
Note
Data accessed in November 2024. Rule of Law index by country and year, measuring the extent to which agents have confidence in and abide by the rules of society. File location: raw_data/WBank_rule_of_Law.xlsx.
Access policy
Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
License
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
License URL
https://www.worldbank.org/en/about/legal/terms-of-use-for-datasets
Data URL
https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/worldwide-governance-indicators
Citation
World Bank. 2024. "Worldwide Governance Indicators: Rule of Law" [dataset]. https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/worldwide-governance-indicators. Accessed November 2024.
Name
United Nations Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use
Note
Data accessed in November 2024. Country correspondence file mapping UN M49 codes to ISO3 country codes. File location: raw_data/correspondence_m49_iso3.dta.
Access policy
Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
License URL
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/terms-of-use
Data URL
https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/
Citation
United Nations Statistics Division. 2024. "Standard Country or Area Codes for Statistical Use" [dataset]. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/methodology/m49/. Accessed November 2024.
Name
International Migrant Stock
Note
Data accessed in November 2024. International migration stock by country and year for both origin and destination, used as proxy for diaspora networks and information frictions. File location: raw_data/unsd_migration_stock_raw.xlsx.
Access policy
Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
License URL
https://www.un.org/en/about-us/terms-of-use
Data URL
https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/content/international-migrant-stock
Citation
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. 2024. "International Migrant Stock" [dataset]. UN Statistics Division. Accessed November 2024.
Name
General Statistics Office of Vietnam – Price Indices
Note
Data accessed in November 2024. Seven price index series from GSO Vietnam: (1) Annual average CPI (previous year = 100), including gold, USD price index and core inflation (raw_data/prices/Annual average CPI (Previous year = 100).csv); (2) Producer price index for agriculture, forestry and fishing (year 2010 = 100) (raw_data/prices/Producer price index for agriculture, forestry and fishing (Year 2010 = 100) by Items and Year.csv); (3) Producer price index for industry (year 2010 = 100) (raw_data/prices/Producer price index for industry (Year 2010 = 100) by Industrial products and Year.csv); (4) Producer price index for services (year 2010 = 100) (raw_data/prices/Producer price index for services (Year 2010 = 100) by Items and Year.csv); (5) Merchandise export price index (USD, year 2010 = 100) (raw_data/prices/export_price_index_2023.xlsx); (6) Merchandise import price index (USD, year 2010 = 100) (raw_data/prices/import_price_index_2023.xlsx).
Access policy
Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
Data URL
https://www.gso.gov.vn/
Citation
General Statistics Office of Vietnam. 2024. "Statistical Data: Price Indices" [dataset]. Hanoi: GSO. Accessed November 2024.
Name
Sector Correspondence
Note
Author-constructed concordance between PPI sectors, IPI sectors, GDP sectors, and 2-digit VSIC codes, based on GSO sector classifications. File location: raw_data/prices/sector_correspondence.xlsx.
Access policy
Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
Citation
Authors' compilation. 2024. "Sector Correspondence" [dataset]. Based on General Statistics Office of Vietnam sector classifications. Accessed November 2024.
Name
OECD Trade in Value Added (TiVA) 2023 Edition
Note
Data accessed in October 2024. Production (gross output) and value added by economic activity. Includes two files: (1) Vietnam data for 2019–2020 (raw_data/sector/oecd_prod_valu_vnm.xlsx); (2) World data for 2019–2020 (raw_data/sector/oecd_prod_valu_world.xlsx).
Access policy
Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
License URL
https://www.oecd.org/en/about/terms-conditions.html
Data URL
https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/trade-in-value-added.html
Citation
OECD. 2023. "TiVA 2023 Edition: Principal Indicators" [dataset]. OECD.Stat. https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/sub-issues/trade-in-value-added.html. Accessed October 2024.
Name
Value Chain Length Indicators
Note
Data accessed in October 2024. Value chain length indicators (PLv, PLy, APL_f, APL_b) by sector and region for Vietnam, 2000–2022, based on the Asian Development Bank Multiregional Input-Output Database. File location: raw_data/sector/value_chain_length_ADB_2022.xlsx.
Access policy
Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
License URL
http://gvcdb.uibe.edu.cn/
Data URL
http://rigvc.uibe.edu.cn/english/D_E/database_database/index.htm
Citation
RIGVC UIBE. 2016. "UIBE GVC Indicators" [dataset]. http://rigvc.uibe.edu.cn/english/D_E/database_database/index.htm. Accessed October 2024.
Name
Vietnam GADM Administrative Boundaries
Note
Data accessed in July 2024. Commune-level (level 3) shapefile data for Vietnam (2,691 communes) including geographic coordinates and administrative identifiers. Version 4.1. File locations: raw_data/spatial/VNM_adm3.shp; raw_data/spatial/VNM_adm3.shx; raw_data/spatial/VNM_adm3.dbf.
Access policy
Data is publicly available but does not allow redistribution and is not included in the reproducibility package.
License URL
https://gadm.org/license.html
Data URL
https://gadm.org/download_country.html
Citation
GADM Project. 2024. "GADM: Database of Global Administrative Areas – Vietnam" [dataset]. https://gadm.org/download_country.html. Accessed July 2024.
Name
Vietnam Administrative Units
Note
Data accessed in July 2024. List of names and statistical codes of Vietnam's administrative units as of 2024. File location: raw_data/spatial/Admin_level3_codes ___01_07_2024.xls.
Access policy
Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
Data URL
https://www.nso.gov.vn/phuong-phap-luan-thong-ke/danh-muc/don-vi-hanh-chinh/
Citation
General Statistics Office of Vietnam. 2024. "Administrative Units" [dataset]. https://www.nso.gov.vn/phuong-phap-luan-thong-ke/danh-muc/don-vi-hanh-chinh/. Accessed July 2024.
Name
Vietnam Seaport Locations
Note
Data accessed in July 2024. Compiled by authors. Vietnam seaport locations with geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude); includes primary and secondary port data (36 records). File location: raw_data/spatial/seaports.xlsx.
Access policy
Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.
Data URL
https://www.marineinsight.com/know-more/5-major-ports-of-vietnam/
Citation
Authors' compilation. 2024. "Vietnam Seaport Locations" [dataset]. Based on Marine Insight. "5 Major Ports of Vietnam." https://www.marineinsight.com/know-more/5-major-ports-of-vietnam/. Accessed July 2024.
Data statement
Some data is restricted and has not been included in the reproducibility package. For more details, please refer to the README file.
Description
Output
Type
Working Paper
Title
Trade Finance Use By Heterogeneous Firms
Description
Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP)
Authors
| Author | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Francesca de Nicola | World Bank Group | fdenicola@worldbank.org |
| Alexandros Ragoussis | World Bank Group | aragoussis@ifc.org |
| Tim Schmidt-Eisenlohr | Federal Reserve Board | tim.schmidt-eisenlohr@frb.gov |
| Trang Thu Tran | World Bank Group | ttran6@worldbank.org |
Date of production
2026-05-19
Scope and coverage
Geographic locations
| Location | Code |
|---|---|
| Viet Nam | VNM |
Keywords
International Trade
Trade Finance
Letter-Of-Credit
Firms
Development
Topics
Disclaimer
Disclaimer
The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.
Access and rights
License
| Name | URI |
|---|---|
| MIT License | https://opensource.org/license/mit |
| World Bank IGO Rider | https://github.com/worldbank/metadata-editor/blob/main/WB-IGO-RIDER.md |
Contacts
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Francesca de Nicola | World Bank Group | fdenicola@worldbank.org |
| Reproducibility WBG | World Bank | reproducibility@worldbank.org |
Information on metadata
Producers
| Name | Abbreviation | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reproducibility WBG | DECDI | World Bank - Development Impact Department | Verification and preparation of metadata |
Date of Production
2026-05-19
Document version
1