Escaping Poverty in Post‐Socialist Vietnam: Does Place Matter?

Abstract

Over the past two decades, Vietnam has exhibited remarkable success in eliminating poverty. In fact, since 1999 Vietnam had the highest percentage point reduction of households living in poverty of any country in Asia. Between 2004 and 2008, the period focused on in this article, the Vietnamese national poverty rate fell from 21 to 12 percent. Although Vietnam experienced a dramatic overall reduction in poverty, poverty levels remain spatially uneven. Provinces with large amounts of foreign investments report significantly higher levels of poverty reduction than economically isolated rural provinces. This article focuses on both temporal change and geographic variability in household poverty reduction. Using paneled household data, a series of multilevel logistic regressions are used to examine why some households are more likely to escape poverty than others, and whether a household's place of residence contributes to its likelihood of escaping poverty. We address two questions: (1) controlling for household‐level sociodemographic factors, does the geographic location in which a household is embedded affect its likelihood of escaping poverty, and (2) does the interaction between household characteristics and provincial‐level changes in foreign direct investment per capita between 2001 and 2008 affect the probability of a household escaping poverty during this time?

Do Factory Audits Improve International Labor Standards? An Examination of Voluntary Corporate Labor Regulations in Global Production Networks

“…This finding is consistent with macro labor trends between 2003 and 2010. During that period, Vietnam experienced rapid expansion in foreign investments, and strengthened the protection of workers through new labor laws (Miller et al 2015;Sanders 2014;Sanders and Brown 2014). This improvement in the macro-level business culture helps account for the fact that factories in Vietnam showed significantly greater increases in factory scores when compared with Thailand.…”

An empirical investigation of regional differences in consumption behaviors in an emerging economy

“…Additionally, following the defeat of the French in 1954, the North began pursuing socialist policies that aimed at collectivizing the agricultural and industrial sectors (Sanders & Brown, 2014) while in the South market capitalism was promoted under the Southern regime with a strong American influence. The ensuing economic austerity experienced in the North resulted in a frugal mentality while consumerism took roots in the South thanks to an open economy with American backing.…”

“…Following the reunification of the country in 1975, state subsidization modeled after the Soviet Union was the predominant economic blueprint in the North until the implementation of Doi Moi in 1986. Meanwhile, a pro‐capitalist business climate prevailed in the South, helping the South attract more foreign direct investment after the lifting of the trade embargo imposed by the United States following the end of the Vietnam War (Sanders & Brown, 2014). In view of these factors, one would expect consumer behaviors to display a good amount of heterogeneity between North and South Vietnam and HN and HCMC consumers would hold different beliefs and consumption attitudes influenced by differing historical and cultural backgrounds as well as consumerist tendencies.…”

“…Scholars in various disciplines have suggested that marked regional differences exist in Vietnam, strongly influenced by the physical environments of the Red River Delta in the North and the Mekong Delta in the South (Sanders & Brown, 2014). Adger (1999) argues that it is difficult to characterize the institutional and historical realms of Vietnam as homogenous and that it should be seen as a series of regions with distinct characters.…”

“…Additionally, following the defeat of the French in 1954, the North began pursuing socialist policies that aimed at collectivizing the agricultural and industrial sectors (Sanders & Brown, 2014) (Sanders & Brown, 2014). In view of these factors, one would expect consumer behaviors to display a good amount of heterogeneity between North and South Vietnam and HN and HCMC consumers would hold different beliefs and consumption attitudes influenced by differing historical and cultural backgrounds as well as consumerist tendencies.…”