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The Happy Farmer: Self-Employment and Subjective Well-Being in Rural Vietnam

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  • Thomas Markussen
  • Maria Fibæk
  • Finn Tarp
  • Do Anh Tuan Nguyen

Abstract

Using survey data from rural Vietnam, this paper documents a statistically significant, positive effect of self-employment in farming on subjective well-being. Wage workers are less happy than farmers across a range of different types of wage jobs. These results suggest that structural transformation is associated with a psychological cost, which may contribute to explaining earnings gaps between sectors and types of employment.

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  • Thomas Markussen & Maria Fibæk & Finn Tarp & Do Anh Tuan Nguyen, 2014. "The Happy Farmer: Self-Employment and Subjective Well-Being in Rural Vietnam," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-108, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    • Handle: RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2014-108
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