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Economic impacts of international migration and remittances on household welfare in Vietnam

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  • Nguyen Viet Cuong
  • Daniel Mont

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of international remittances on different household welfare indicators including child education, assets, durable goods, and reservation wages of other working age household members. It examines how international remittances are spent for production and consumption by receiving households. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses fixed‐effect regressions to estimate the impact of international remittances on household spending in Vietnam using Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys 2006 and 2008. Findings - It is found that most of international remittances are spent on housing and land, debt repayment and saving. A small proportion of remittances are used to buy durable goods. Remittances are not spent in production as well as living consumptions. The effect of international remittances on consumption‐based poverty is very limited. Originality/value - The findings from this paper suggest that current international remittances are not an effective measure for poverty reduction in the short‐run in Vietnam.

Suggested Citation

  • Nguyen Viet Cuong & Daniel Mont, 2012. "Economic impacts of international migration and remittances on household welfare in Vietnam," International Journal of Development Issues, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 11(2), pages 144-163, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijdipp:v:11:y:2012:i:2:p:144-163
    DOI: 10.1108/14468951211241137
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    2. Nguyen, Duc Loc & Grote, Ulrike & Nguyen, Trung Thanh, 2019. "Migration, crop production and non-farm labor diversification in rural Vietnam," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 175-187.
    3. Imtiaz Arif & Syed Ali Raza & Anita Friemann & Muhammad Tahir Suleman, 2019. "The Role of Remittances in the Development of Higher Education: Evidence from Top Remittance Receiving Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 1233-1243, February.
    4. Wang, Wenlue & Ren, Qian & Yu, Jin, 2018. "Impact of the ecological resettlement program on participating decision and poverty reduction in southern Shaanxi, China," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 1-9.
    5. Phan, Diep & Coxhead, Ian, 2016. "Rural-Urban Migration and Remittances in Vietnam Evidence from Migrant Tracer Data," Staff Paper Series 581, University of Wisconsin, Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    6. Zhang, Xiaobo & Rashid, Shahidur & Kaikaus, Ahmad & Ahmed, Akhter, 2021. "Escalation of real wages in Bangladesh: Is it the beginning of structural transformation?," IFPRI book chapters, in: Securing food for all in Bangladesh, chapter 10, pages 343-374, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    7. Pierre, Gaelle, 2012. "Recent labor market performance in Vietnam through a gender lens," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6056, The World Bank.
    8. Cuong Viet Nguyen & Thai Pham Minh, 2016. "Are migrants in large cities underpaid? Evidence from Vietnam," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-23, December.
    9. Bierkamp, Sina & Nguyen, Trung Thanh & Grote, Ulrike, 2021. "Environmental income and remittances: Evidence from rural central highlands of Vietnam," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    10. Sridhar Thapa & Sanjaya Acharya, 2017. "Remittances and Household Expenditure in Nepal: Evidence from Cross-Section Data," Economies, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-17, May.
    11. Nguyen Viet Cuong & Vu Hoang Linh, 2018. "The Impact of Migration and Remittances on Household Welfare: Evidence from Vietnam," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 945-963, November.
    12. Nguyen, Cuong & Nguyen, Hoa, 2013. "Do Internal and International Remittances Matter to Health, Education and Labor of Children? The Case of Vietnam," MPRA Paper 48672, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Quang Tran, Tuyen & Doan, Tinh & Vu, Huong & Nguyen, Hien, 2018. "The Impact of Public Governance on Household Income: A Quantile Panel Analysis," MPRA Paper 90415, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 08 Mar 2018.
    14. Gröger, André, 2021. "Easy come, easy go? Economic shocks, labor migration and the family left behind," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    15. Nguyen, Cuong Viet & Nguyen, Hoa Quynh, 2015. "Do internal and international remittances matter to health, education and labor of children and adolescents? The case of Vietnam," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 28-34.
    16. Nguyen, Duc Loc & Grote, Ulrike, 2015. "Migration, Agricultural Production and Diversification: A case study from Vietnam," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 229379, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

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