Inter-provincial migration and inequality during Vietnam's transition

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Phan, Diep; Coxhead, Ian
• 署名单位: University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison; Beloit College
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2009.06.008
• 发表日期: 2010
• 页码: 100-112
• 关键词: labor; migration; INEQUALITY; Vietnam

摘要

Vietnam's economic boom during the transition to a market economy has centered on very rapid growth in some sectors and provinces, yet poverty has diminished across the entire country. With capital investments highly concentrated by province and sector, geographic labor mobility may be critical in spreading the gains from growth. Conversely, rising income inequality may be attributable in part to impediments to migration. We first use census data to investigate migration patterns and determinants. We then examine the role of migration as an influence on income ratios between pairs of provinces. The former analysis robustly confirms economic motives for migration but also suggests the existence of poverty-related labor immobility at the provincial level. Examination of income ratios between pairs of provinces reveals that the impact of migration on inequality can be either negative or positive. A robust inequality-reducing impact of migration is found for migration flows into provinces where most of Vietnam's trade-oriented industrial investments are located. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.