Ethnic Minority Development in Vietnam: A Socioeconomic Perspective

26 Pages Posted: 20 Apr 2016

See all articles by Bob Baulch

Bob Baulch

International Food Policy Research Institute

Dominique Haughton

Bentley University - Department of Mathematical Sciences and Global Studies; Paris 1 University (SAMM); Toulouse 1 University (GREMAQ)

Jonathan Haughton

Suffolk University - Department of Economics

Truong Thi Kim Chuyen

Vietnam National University of Ho Chi Minh City - Department of Geography

Date Written: April 26, 2002

Abstract

Baulch, Chuyen, Haughton, and Haughton examine the latest quantitative evidence on disparities in living standards between and among different ethnic groups in Vietnam. Using data from the 1998 Vietnam Living Standards Survey and 1999 Census, they show that Kinh and Hoa (majority) households have substantially higher living standards than minority households from Vietnam's other 52 ethnic groups. Subdividing the population into five broad categories, the authors find that while the Kinh, Hoa, Khmer, and Northern Highland minorities have benefited from economic growth in the 1990s, the growth of Central Highland minorities has stagnated.

Disaggregating further, they find that the same ethnic groups whose living standards have risen fastest are those that have the highest school enrollment rates, are most likely to intermarry with Kinh partners, and are the least likely to practice a religion. The authors then estimate and decompose a set of expenditure regressions which show that even if minority households had the same endowments as Kinh households, this would close no more than a third of the gap in per capita expenditures. While some ethnic minorities seem to be doing well with a strategy of assimilating (both culturally and economically) with the Kinh-Hoa majority, other groups are attempting to integrate economically while retaining distinct cultural identities. A third group comprising the Central Highland minorities, including the Hmong, is largely being left behind by the growth process.

Such diversity in the socioeconomic development experiences of the different ethnic minorities indicates the need for similar diversity in the policy interventions that are designed to assist them.

This paper - a product of Macroeconomics and Growth, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to study household welfare and poverty reduction in Vietnam.

Suggested Citation

Baulch, Bob and Haughton, Dominique and Haughton, Jonathan H. and Chuyen, Truong Thi Kim, Ethnic Minority Development in Vietnam: A Socioeconomic Perspective (April 26, 2002). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=636183

Bob Baulch (Contact Author)

International Food Policy Research Institute ( email )

1201 Eye St, NW,
Washington, DC 20005
United States

Dominique Haughton

Bentley University - Department of Mathematical Sciences and Global Studies ( email )

Waltham, MA 02154
United States

Paris 1 University (SAMM) ( email )

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Paris, 75013
France

HOME PAGE: http://samm.univ-paris1.fr/

Toulouse 1 University (GREMAQ) ( email )

Manufacture des Tabacs - Bâtiment F 21 Allée de Br
Toulouse, 31000
France

HOME PAGE: http://www.ut-capitole.fr

Jonathan H. Haughton

Suffolk University - Department of Economics ( email )

8 Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108
United States
617-641-4852 (Fax)

Truong Thi Kim Chuyen

Vietnam National University of Ho Chi Minh City - Department of Geography

Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam

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