Vietnam’s economic boom during the transition to a market economy has centered on very rapid
growth in some sectors and some provinces, yet poverty has diminished across the entire country. With
capital investments highly concentrated by province and sector, geographic labor mobility may be critical
in spreading the gains from growth. Conversely, rising income inequality may be attributable in part to
impediments to migration. We first use census data to investigate migration patterns and determinants.
We then examine the role of migration as an influence on cross-province income differentials. The
former analysis robustly confirms economic motives for migration but also suggests the existence of
poverty-related labor immobility at the provincial level. Examination of income differentials between
pairs of provinces reveals that the impact of migration on inequality can be either negative or positive. A
robust inequality-reducing impact of migration is found for migration flows into provinces where most of
Vietnam’s trade-oriented industrial investments are located.
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