Human Trafficking in Southeast Asia: Results from a Pilot Project in Vietnam

31 Pages Posted: 6 Dec 2014

See all articles by Ngan Dinh

Ngan Dinh

University of Chicago - Division of Social Sciences

Conor Hughes

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

James W. Hughes

Bates College - Department of Economics

Margaret Maurer-Fazio

Bates College - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Abstract

Human trafficking is one of the most widely spread and fastest growing crimes in the world. However, despite the scope of the problem, the important human rights issues at stake and the professed intent of governments around the world to put an end to "modern day slavery", there is very little that is actually known about the nature of human trafficking and those most at risk as potential victims. This is due in large part to the difficulty in collecting reliable and statistically useful data. In this paper we present the results of a pilot study run in rural Vietnam with the aim of overcoming these data issues. Rather than attempt to identify victims themselves, we rely on the form rural migration often takes in urbanizing developing countries to instead identify households that were sources of trafficking victims. This allows us to construct a viable sampling frame, on which we conduct a survey using novel techniques such as anchoring vignettes, indirect sampling, list randomization and social network analysis to construct a series of empirically valid estimates that can begin to shed light on the problem of human trafficking.

Keywords: human trafficking, labor migration, Vietnam, household survey, indirect sampling, social network analysis, pilot study, public policy

JEL Classification: J47, J61, J82, K37, K42, O15

Suggested Citation

Dinh, Ngan and Hughes, Conor and Hughes, James Wesley and Maurer-Fazio, Margaret, Human Trafficking in Southeast Asia: Results from a Pilot Project in Vietnam. IZA Discussion Paper No. 8686, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2534714 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2534714

Ngan Dinh (Contact Author)

University of Chicago - Division of Social Sciences ( email )

774 International House
1414 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
United States

Conor Hughes

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

James Wesley Hughes

Bates College - Department of Economics ( email )

Lewiston, ME 04240
United States

Margaret Maurer-Fazio

Bates College - Department of Economics ( email )

276 Pettengill Hall
4 Andrews Road
Lewiston, ME 04240
United States
207-786-6087 (Phone)
207-786-8338 (Fax)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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