Does rising landlessness signal success or failure for Vietnam's agrarian transition?

• Published in: Journal of development economics Vol. 87; no. 2; pp. 191 - 209
• Main Authors: Ravallion, Martin, van de Walle, Dominique
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam Elsevier B.V 01.10.2008; Elsevier; Elsevier Sequoia S.A
• Series: Journal of Development Economics
• Subjects: Agrarian reform; Agricultural Policy; Agriculture and Environment Q150; Agriculture P320; Collectives; Communes; Economic Development: Agriculture; Economics; Energy; Environment; Food Policy Q180; Inequality; Irrigation; Land markets; Land Ownership and Tenure; Land Reform; Land rights; Land Use; Landlessness; Natural Resources; Other Primary Products O130; Poverty; Rural areas; Rural economics; Social structure; Socialist states; Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Planning, Coordination, and Reform P210; Studies; Vietnam; Vietnam; Vietnam; Poverty; Landlessness; Q15; Land markets; Land reform; P21; D60; Inequality
• ISSN: 0304-3878; 1872-6089
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2007.03.003

In the wake of reforms to establish a free market in land-use rights, Vietnam experienced a pronounced rise in rural landlessness. To some observers this is a harmless by-product of a more efficient economy, while to others it signals the return of the pre-socialist class structure, with the rural landless at the bottom of the economic ladder. We study the issue empirically using four household surveys spanning 1993–2004. Although we find rising landlessness amongst the poor, the post-reform landlessness rate tends to be higher for the non-poor. We find no support for the claim that the process of rising landlessness has been poverty-increasing in the aggregate.