When Faced with Income and Asset Shocks, Do Poor Rural Households in Vietnam Smooth Food Consumption or Assets?. Issue 9 (2nd September 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nguyen, Giang Thi Hoang; White, Ben; Ma, Chunbo
• Is Part Of: Journal of development studies. Volume 55:Issue 9(2019)
• Page Start: 2008
• Page End: 2023
• Publication Date: 2019-09-02
• Subjects: Economic development -- Periodicals; Economic history -- 1945- -- Periodicals; Developing countries -- Economic conditions -- Periodicals; Développement économique -- Périodiques; Histoire économique -- 1945- -- Périodiques; Pays en voie de développement -- Conditions économiques -- Périodiques; 338.91
• DOI: 10.1080/00220388.2018.1528350
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-0388

Abstract

Abstract: Vietnamese rural households are exposed to severe covariate and idiosyncratic shocks. However, these households are remarkably resilient and have steadily increased real income and consumption over the survey period 2006 to 2012. To explain household strategies to cope with shocks we test three theoretical models: the Permanent Income Hypothesis (PIH), Complete Market Hypothesis (CMH), and Asset Smoothing Theory (AST). There is support for AST as households smooth productive assets rather than consumption; and for CMH as households smooth consumption against idiosyncratic, but not covariate shocks. There is no support for PIH.