{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DECDI","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2026-05-19","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Francesca de Nicola","affiliation":"World Bank Group","email":"fdenicola@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Alexandros Ragoussis","affiliation":"World Bank Group","email":"aragoussis@ifc.org"},{"name":"Tim Schmidt-Eisenlohr","affiliation":"Federal Reserve Board","email":"tim.schmidt-eisenlohr@frb.gov"},{"name":"Trang Thu Tran","affiliation":"World Bank Group","email":"ttran6@worldbank.org"}],"title_statement":{"title":"Reproducibility package for Trade Finance Use By Heterogeneous Firms","idno":"RR_VNM_2026_622"},"data_statement":"Some data is restricted and has not been included in the reproducibility package. For more details, please refer to the README file. ","software":[{"name":"Stata","version":"19.0 MP"}],"scripts":[{"title":"Reproducibility package for Trade Finance Use By Heterogeneous Firms","date":"2026-05","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.","instructions":"See README in reproducibility package.","file_name":"RR_VNM_2026_622","zip_package":"RR_VNM_2026_622.zip","dependencies":"Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder."}],"repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"production_date":"2026-05-19","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.","geographic_units":[{"name":"Viet Nam","code":"VNM"}],"keywords":[{"name":"International Trade"},{"name":"Trade Finance"},{"name":"Letter-Of-Credit"},{"name":"Firms"},{"name":"Development"}],"topics":[{"id":"F14","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Empirical Studies of Trade","parent_id":"F1"},{"id":" F34","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"International Lending and Debt Problems","parent_id":"F3"},{"id":" O16","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Financial Markets \u2022 Saving and Capital Investment \u2022 Corporate Finance and Governance","parent_id":"O1"}],"output":[{"type":"Working Paper","description":"Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP)","title":"Trade Finance Use By Heterogeneous Firms"}],"language":[{"name":"English","code":"EN"}],"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.","license":[{"name":"MIT License","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/mit"},{"name":"World Bank IGO Rider","uri":"https:\/\/github.com\/worldbank\/metadata-editor\/blob\/main\/WB-IGO-RIDER.md"}],"contacts":[{"name":"Francesca de Nicola","affiliation":"World Bank Group","email":"fdenicola@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org"}],"datasets":[{"name":"Vietnam Enterprise Survey","note":"Data accessed in September 2024. Vietnamese firm-level panel data covering 2007\u20132016, acquired through the Industrial Statistics Department of GSO Vietnam. File location: raw_data\/vnm_2007-2016.dta.","access_type":"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_type":"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\u20132022, acquired through the Industrial Statistics Department of GSO Vietnam. Redistribution is prohibited. File location: raw_data\/firms_panel_premerge.dta.","access_type":"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_type":"Data is forthcoming in the internal World Bank Microdata Library.","citation":"IFC. 2023. \"Trade Finance Firm Level Survey \u2013 Viet Nam 2019\u20132021\" [dataset]. Forthcoming in the World Bank Microdata Library. Accessed August 2022."},{"name":"Worldwide Governance Indicators \u2013 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_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.worldbank.org\/en\/about\/legal\/terms-of-use-for-datasets","uri":"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_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/about-us\/terms-of-use","uri":"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_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/en\/about-us\/terms-of-use","uri":"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 \u2013 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_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","uri":"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_type":"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\u20132020 (raw_data\/sector\/oecd_prod_valu_vnm.xlsx); (2) World data for 2019\u20132020 (raw_data\/sector\/oecd_prod_valu_world.xlsx).","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license_uri":"https:\/\/www.oecd.org\/en\/about\/terms-conditions.html","uri":"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\u20132022, based on the Asian Development Bank Multiregional Input-Output Database. File location: raw_data\/sector\/value_chain_length_ADB_2022.xlsx.","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license_uri":"http:\/\/gvcdb.uibe.edu.cn\/","uri":"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_type":"Data is publicly available but does not allow redistribution and is not included in the reproducibility package.","license_uri":"https:\/\/gadm.org\/license.html","uri":"https:\/\/gadm.org\/download_country.html","citation":"GADM Project. 2024. \"GADM: Database of Global Administrative Areas \u2013 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_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","uri":"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_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","uri":"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."}],"reproduction_instructions":"To reproduce the findings in this paper, a replicator must:\n1. **Secure Access to Data:** Access the datasets not included in the package. See the Datasets section for more details.\n2. **Run the Package:**\n  -  Restore the environment in \"code_clening\/environment.txt\", and run the scripts in order: `_seaport_1_match.py` and `_seaport_2_compute.py`.\n   - Update the working directory in line 15 of the do-file `00_master.do`, and run it.\n\nSince 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.","technology_requirements":"Run time: ~ 90 minutes","technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:\n\u2022 OS: Windows 11 Enterprise\n\u2022 Processor: INTEL(R) XEON(R) PLATINUM 8562Y+ 2.80 GHz (2 processors)\n\u2022 Memory available: 32.0 G"},"datacite":{"creators":[{"givenName":"Francesca de","familyName":"Nicola","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"IFC","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/049rm1a24","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]},{"givenName":"Alexandros","familyName":"Ragoussis","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"IFC","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/049rm1a24","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]},{"givenName":"Tim","familyName":"Schmidt-Eisenlohr","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"Federal Reserve Board","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00v448643"}]},{"givenName":"Trang Thu","familyName":"Tran","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"IFC","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/049rm1a24","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]}],"titles":[{"lang":"en","title":"Reproducibility package for Trade Finance Use By Heterogeneous Firms"},{"title":"RR_VNM_2026_622","titleType":"Other"}],"publisher":"World Bank","publicationYear":"2026","types":{"resourceType":"Reproducibility package","resourceTypeGeneral":"Other"},"url":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org\/index.php\/catalog\/study\/RR_VNM_2026_622","language":"en"},"tags":[{"tag":"DOI"},{"tag":"Open Code"},{"tag":"Restricted Data"}],"schematype":"script"}