Remittances,social security,and the crowding-out effect: Evidence from Vietnam

In the absence of adequate social security systems, many people in developing countries, especially the poor and vulnerable, cope through migration-related remittances. However, when remittances, internal or international, provide social benefits similar to public transfers they may overlap: ‘crowding-out’ effects occur. Employing three long-sample Vietnam Household Living Standard surveys undertaken during the 2000s, this paper studies the crowding-out effects of remittances in Vietnam, a developing country that has experienced a soaring inflow of remittances since 2000. Significant crowding-out effects for both domestic and international remittances on income are found below the poverty line in Vietnam, consistent with an altruistic motive. Beyond this, transfer derivatives are positive and statistically significant in both areas, suggesting a switch of motives from altruism to exchange at the poverty line. The substituting relationship between public transfers and remittances observed for the rural poor reveals key challenges to delivering an equal and efficient social security system in the country.     

Job Opportunities in Foreign Firms and Internal Migration in Vietnam

Using the 2004 Vietnam Migration Survey and the 2004 Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey, this paper investigates the role of employment opportunities created by foreign‐owned firms as a determinant of internal migration and destination choice. Multinomial logit and conditional logit models are estimated to study both origin‐and destination‐specific characteristics of migrants. The paper finds that the migration response to foreign job opportunities is larger for female workers than male workers; there appears to be intermediate selection in terms of educational attainment; and migrating individuals tend to go to destinations with higher foreign employment opportunities, even when controlling for income differentials, land differentials and distances between sending and receiving areas.     

Updating Poverty Maps without Panel Data: Evidence from Vietnam*

A household survey and a census can be combined to estimate a poverty map for small areas. Ideally, the survey and the census should be conducted in the same year. In several empirical applications, however, survey and census years can be different, which might make poverty estimates biased. Using data from the Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey 2002 and the 1999 Population and Housing Census, the present paper produces a 2002 poverty map for Vietnam and describes the biases when the survey and census years are not coincident. It is found that poverty estimates from the poverty mapping method taking into account the time difference between the survey and the census are quite close to survey‐based estimates, at least at the regional level.     

The Effect of Immigration on Unskilled Native Workers: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

This study exploits the natural experiment, provided by the start of the second intifada, to measure the effect of immigration on the wage and employment of unskilled native workers. It finds that immigration has no effect on the wage or employment of unskilled Jewish workers. The wage and employment of the least‐skilled Israeli Arab workers (with zero to five years of schooling) are adversely affected by immigration. The slightly more skilled Arab workers (with six to 11 years of schooling), in contrast, are positively affected by immigration, suggesting a complementarity effect with this group. Different explanations are proposed.     

Rise and Fall of Multinational Enterprises in Vietnam: Survival Analysis Using Census Data during 2000–2011*

This study examined the survival of multinational enterprises (MNE) in Vietnam during 2000–2011 using Cox hazard models. The characteristics and ownership structure of firms and the nationality of foreign partners are found to be associated with the probability of firm exit, with a firm having greater capital share of foreign partners surviving longer. An efficient local government requiring less time for bureaucratic procedures and inspections is found to be associated with a lower probability of MNE exiting. Meanwhile, transparency in business regulations and predictability in implementing central government policies accelerate the survival of highly competitive MNE.     

Firm Efficiency in a Transitional Economy: Evidence from Vietnam

The paper examines efficiency performance of the non-state small and medium manufacturing industries in a transitional and developing economy. Using firm level data in Vietnam from 1996 and 2001, cross-sectional models are estimated using the stochastic frontier method. The results show a considerable variation in efficiency levels among firms and that a greater use of family labor and a metropolitan location are associated with improvement in technical efficiency. The results indicate few benefits from direct government financial and non-financial assistance to businesses.     

Self-selection and Earnings of Migrants: Evidence from Rural China

Using data from a rural household survey in China, this paper explores the link between employment choice (nonworking, local farm work, local nonfarm work and migratory work) and migrant earnings. We find significant self-selection in migration. Youths, men, better-educated individuals and those in good health are more likely to migrate. In terms of unobserved characteristics, we find positive selection in migration to be related to the alternatives of not working and local farm work, and negative selection to be related to local nonfarm work. Controlling for self-selection, the wage returns to gender (male), education and health are lower than those obtained from OLS, and the returns to experience are higher. More importantly, we find different self-selection between individuals who have moved as pioneers and migrants from households in which other members have already migrated.     

Relationship between Managerial Compensation and Business Performance in Japan: New Evidence Using Micro Data*

This paper examines the relationship between the level of managerial compensation and the quality of corporate governance in Japan in the period following the bubble burst of 1991–1995. There are three main findings. First, Japanese firms with weaker governance have greater agency problems in that managerial opportunism extracts higher compensation and the firm performs relatively worse. Second, these agency problems were more severe during the recessionary period of 1994–1995. Finally, governance structures in industries with higher managerial compensation are relatively weaker than in other industries.