Nguyễn Xuân Oánh

Vietnamese economist and politician (1921–2003)

Nguyễn Xuân Oánh (14 July 1921 – 29 August 2003), nicknamed Jack Owens, was a Vietnamese economist and politician who held senior positions in the governments of both South Vietnam and the current Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

He was born on 14 July 1921 in Phủ Lạng Thương, today Bắc Giang, Tonkin, French Indochina. His father is Doctor Nguyễn Xuân Bái, from Đa Ngưu village, Văn Giang district, Hưng Yên province. He was educated in Western studies since at a young age. His family sent him to Paris, France to be educated at Lycee Albert. After graduating from secondary school, Oánh went on to attain a bachelor's degree in economics at the National College of Japan in 1944. Afterwards he would go on to earn his MA at Kyoto University in 1950. He would go on to pursue his PhD in economics from Harvard University in 1954.

After earning a PhD in economics, Oánh worked for the World Bank Group's IFC and the IMF and taught economics at Trinity College. In 1963, he returned home to South Vietnam and joined the government. Shortly after, he was appointed Governor of the South Vietnamese Central Bank, then Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Vietnam. He also served as acting Prime Minister of South Vietnam in 1964 and 1965. and was appointed a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front. He also served as an economic adviser to Prime Minister Võ Văn Kiệt and Communist Party's General Secretary Nguyễn Văn Linh during the Đổi Mới economic reforms. He was awarded the Harvard Centennial Medal in 1999 by the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

He was married to Thẩm Thuý Hằng, a famous actress and pageant who was awarded the title of Merited Artist of Vietnam. They have twin sons, Nguyễn Xuân Ái Quốc and Nguyễn Xuân Quốc Việt, who owned the coffee chain The Coffee Factory in Ho Chi Minh City.