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Private Inter-household Transfers in Vietnam in the Early and Late 1990s

Author

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  • Donald Cox

    (Boston College)

Abstract

This chapter uses data from the 1992/93 and 1997/98 Vietnam Living Standards Surveys (VLSS) to describe patterns of money transfers between households. Rapid economic growth during the 1990's did little to diminish the importance of private transfers in Vietnam. Private transfers are large and widespread in both surveys,and they are much larger than public transfers are. Private transfers appear to function like means-tested public transfers, flowing from better off to worse off households and providing old-age support in retirement. Panel evidence suggests some hysteresis in private transfer patterns, but many households also changed from recipients to givers and vice versa between surveys. Changes in private transfers appear responsive to changes in household pre- transfer income, demographic changes and life-course events. Transfer inflows rise upon retirement and widowhood, for example, and are positively associated with increases in health expenditures. It also appears that private transfer inflows increased for households affected by Typhoon Linda, which devastated Vietnam's southernmost provinces in late 1997.

Suggested Citation

  • Donald Cox, 2002. "Private Inter-household Transfers in Vietnam in the Early and Late 1990s," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 524, Boston College Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:524
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Masako Hasegawa, 2017. "Risk-Coping Measures against Health Shocks during the Process of Penetration of Health Insurance in Vietnam," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 139-164, June.
    3. Yixia Cai & Martin Evans, 2018. "Informal Transfers in Comparisons of Income Distributions: Lessons from Rich and Middle-Income Countries," Journal of Income Distribution, Ad libros publications inc., vol. 26(2), pages 1-20, July.
    4. Maria Amelina & Dan Chiribuca & Stephen Knack, 2004. "Mapped In or Mapped Out? The Romanian Poor in Inter-household and Community Networks," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14934.
    5. World Bank, 2003. "Romania : Poverty Assessment, Volume 2. Background Papers," World Bank Publications - Reports 14700, The World Bank Group.
    6. Rachel Karen, 2023. "Private Transfers and Poverty Reduction in the United States and France," LIS Working papers 864, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Private transfers; public transfers; income redistribution; altruism; risk sharing; social safety nets; economic transition; economic growth; Vietnam.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies
    • H42 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Publicly Provided Private Goods
    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs

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