March 2000 - To redress ethnic inequality in Vietnam, it is not enough to target poor areas. Policies must be designed to reach minority households in poor areas, to open up options by ensuring that minority groups are not disadvantaged (in labor markets, for example), to change the conditions...

Vietnam'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...

Could the simplifying assumptions made in project appraisal be so far from the truth that the expected benefits of public investments are not realized? Using data for Vietnam, commonly used estimates of the benefits from irrigation investments based on means are compared with impacts assessed...