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Poverty identification: practice and policy implications in Vietnam

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  • Cuong Viet Nguyen
  • Anh Tran

Abstract

type="main"> To identify poor households, the government of Vietnam applies a combination of proxy means tests and quick collection of income data. This paper examines how well the government's poverty identification reaches the really poor in Vietnam. It is found that there is a large difference between the poverty rate for provinces and districts reported by the government and the rates estimated using expenditure and income data from independent household surveys. There is also a large difference between the poverty status of households identified by local authorities and the poverty status identified by income or expenditure data. More than 50 per cent of the poor households identified by local authorities are not poor in terms of income or expenditure measures. A better identification approach would be to use only proxy means tests and not income data collected using the simple questionnaire.

Suggested Citation

  • Cuong Viet Nguyen & Anh Tran, 2014. "Poverty identification: practice and policy implications in Vietnam," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 28(1), pages 116-136, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:apacel:v:28:y:2014:i:1:p:116-136
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    Cited by:

    1. Nguyen, Cuong & Nguyen, Lam, 2017. "Intra-generational and intergenerational mobility in Vietnam," MPRA Paper 80083, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Anh Thu Quang Pham & Pundarik Mukhopadhaya & Ha Vu, 2020. "Targeting Administrative Regions for Multidimensional Poverty Alleviation: A Study on Vietnam," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 150(1), pages 143-189, July.
    3. Hai Anh La & Duc Anh Dang, 2018. "Income under-reporting and tax evasion: How they impact inequality in Vietnam," WIDER Working Paper Series 148, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Phan, Van-Phuc, 2023. "Is the internet penetration pro-poor? Evidence from a panel data analysis," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8).
    5. Nguyen, Cuong & Lo, Duc, 2016. "Testing Proxy Means Tests in the Field: Evidence from Vietnam," MPRA Paper 80002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Ho, Manh-Toan, 2020. "The rise of research on development economics in Vietnam: Analyses and implications for the public and policymakers from SSHPA 2008-2020 dataset," Thesis Commons msy6e, Center for Open Science.
    7. , Aisdl, 2020. "The rise of research on development economics in Vietnam: Analyses and implications for the public and policymakers from SSHPA 2008-2020 dataset," OSF Preprints 9nbyr, Center for Open Science.
    8. Hai Anh La & Duc Anh Dang, 2018. "Income under-reporting and tax evasion: How they impact inequality in Vietnam," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2018-148, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    9. Manh-Toan Ho & Ngoc-Thang B. Le & Manh-Tung Ho & Quan-Hoang Vuong, 2022. "A bibliometric review on development economics research in Vietnam from 2008 to 2020," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 2939-2969, October.
    10. Cuong V. Nguyen & Nguyet M. Pham, 2018. "Economic growth, inequality, and poverty in Vietnam," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 32(1), pages 45-58, May.

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