| The goal of this dissertation is to study the role of internal migration in Vietnam's economic development since the early 1990s, one that is characterized by high growth, rapid poverty reduction, yet rising spatial inequality. The dissertation first examines the link between internal migration and spatial inequality. It is found that even though migration flows into manufacturing centers help reduce income differentials between such centers and the sending regions, there is no statistically significant impact of migration on the convergence rate in provincial per capita GDP. This suggests that there must be significant impediments to migration, preventing the labor market from spreading the benefits of spatially concentrated growth.;The dissertation then examines the determinants of inter-provincial migration flows to study such impediments, and find that the most important ones are geographical distance, ethnicity, and lack of migration networks. There is also evidence of labor immobility trap for people from disadvantaged regions, a result of high migration costs (due to the above impediments), poverty, and imperfect capital markets.;Finally, the dissertation studies at the household level the relationship between internal migration and agricultural growth in the origin, by carrying out two empirical exercises. The first one is to examine whether migration helps rural households alleviate credit constraints, allowing them to invest in agricultural production. The second one is to examine the simultaneous impacts of migration and remittances on agricultural production. The former exercise yields mixed evidence. The later one yields tentative evidence that while migration reduces agricultural income, this impact might be offset by remittances. |
