No abstract

While the role of agricultural land size in rural Vietnam is well established for rural livelihoods, no evidence for the importance of land quality has been provided thus far in the literature. In the current study of the North Central Region of Vietnam, we examine how land quality affects crop income, total income, and poverty using secondary data from a sample of 2,468 households. In particular, we used an instrumental variable method to address the potential endogeneity of land quality. We provide the first evidence that land quality increases local household income and the likelihood of escaping poverty. The finding is robust even after accounting for the endogeneity of land quality and controlling for various important household characteristics. Notably, we show the mechanism by which land quality positively affects income and poverty reduction through its positive effect on crop income. Also, our study reveals that land fragmentation is negatively linked with land quality. This could be explained by the fact that fragmented land receives less investment (e.g., fertilizers or irrigation), resulting in lower land quality. The study offers a useful implication that reducing fragmentation may help local households invest more in land, thereby increasing crop income, which in turn improves their economic well‐being.

Using secondary data from a socio‐economic quantitative household survey of the North Central region of Vietnam, the main aim of our study is to analyze the causal effect of forest resources on household income and poverty. Based on the observed characteristics of a forest‐based livelihood and forest‐related activities, we use a propensity score matching (PSM) method to control for potential bias arising from self‐selection. The PSM results indicate that households with a forest‐based livelihood had a higher level of income and lower poverty rates than did those without. Interestingly, our findings confirm that a forest‐based livelihood offers much higher income than any other type of livelihood adopted by local households. Also, the poverty rate among households with a forest‐based livelihood is lower than those earning non‐labor income or engaged in wage/crop and crop livelihoods. Among households and provinces, we find varying opportunities deriving from forest resources, suggesting that there are potential barriers hindering local households from pursuing a forest livelihood or participating in some forest activities. Therefore, government policy and regulations on forest management should focus on improving the access of households to forest resources, while enhancing the sustainability of these resources.

Using data from the 2018 Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey, the current study examines factors associated with housing conditions in rural Vietnam. We used both descriptive statistics and regression analyses. Controlling for other factors in the regression models, the study finds that households with better education and occupation were more likely to have larger sizes of housing area per person, higher value of the house and permanent houses. Also, the housing conditions are much better for the Kinh population (the ethnic majority) than that for ethnic minorities. In addition, we find that the opportunities for obtaining better housing outcomes vary largely across regions. Our research findings suggest that improving the access of ethnic minorities to education and better job are expected to improve the housing conditions.

Population arrangement to islands for settlement is one of the important policies in many ways of each nation. This study was conducted to provide an understanding of the current situation and impacts of the migration to Tho Chu Island, Phu Quoc District, Kien Giang Province, Vietnam. In-depth interviews and survey questions were used to collect preliminary data on displaced people, insular living conditions, positive and negative impacts of the migration process on the socio-economic development on the island. They are also supplemented by secondary data which were collected from various sources in research process. The study shows that the migration to the island not only helps to supplement the labor force for the island, contributes to economic and labor structure restructuring on the island but also contributes to diversifying island economic activities and expand the space, enrich the cultural life of the island. However, the process of migration to the island also poses a number of problems for the people and the government on the island.