Sources of ethnic inequality in Viet Nam

Viet Nam's ethnic minorities tend to be concentrated in remote areas and have lower living standards than the ethnic majority, How much is this due to poor economic characteristics versus low returns to characteristics? Is there a self-reinforcing culture of poverty in the minority group? We find that differences in returns to productive characteristics are an important explanation for ethnic inequality. Then is evidence of compensating behavior on the part of the minorities. The results suggest that to redress ethnic inequality, policies need to reach minorities within poor areas and explicitly recognize behavioral patterns that have served them well in the short term, but intensify ethnic differentials in the longer term. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.