Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Papers in Economics,
University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics

No 165: Are Vietnamese Farmers Concerned with their Relative Position in Society?

Fredrik Carlsson (), Pham Khanh Nam (), Martin Linde-Rahr () and Peter Martinsson ()
Additional contact information
Fredrik Carlsson: Department of Economics, School of Economics and Commercial Law, Göteborg University, Postal: Box 640, SE 405 30 GÖTEBORG
Pham Khanh Nam: Faculty of Development Economics, University of Economics, Postal: HCMC, 1A Hoang Dieu, Phu Nhuan,, Ho Chi Minh City , Vietnam
Martin Linde-Rahr: Department of Economics, School of Economics and Commercial Law, Göteborg University, Postal: Box 640, SE 405 30 GÖTEBORG
Peter Martinsson: Department of Economics, School of Economics and Commercial Law, Göteborg University, Postal: Box 640, SE 405 30 GÖTEBORG

Abstract: This paper examines the attitude towards relative position or status among rural households in Vietnam. On average, the respondents show weaker preferences for relative position than in comparable studies in Western countries. Possible explanations are the emphasis on the importance of equality and that villagers are very concerned with how the local community perceives their actions. We also investigate what influences the concern for relative position and find, among other things, that if anyone from the household is a member of the Peoples Committee then the respondent is more concerned with the relative position.

Keywords: Relative income; positionality; experiments; Vietnam; Asia

JEL-codes: C91; D63

18 pages, March 16, 2005

Note: Published in Journal of Development Studies, 2007, Vol 43, pp. 1177-1188.

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