Poverty alleviation among Vietnamese ethnic minorities: a behavioural economics perspective

This study examines the dynamics of the economic transformation in rural Vietnam and reviews how socio-economic development projects have transformed the economic behaviour of ethnic minorities across Vietnam’s Central Highlands. It investigates the impact of state-sponsored poverty alleviation initiatives aimed at improving the economic condition of the X’dang, Bahnar, Jarai, Ede, Mnong, Koho, and Maethnic minorities. These initiatives are financed by Vietnamese state agencies focused on infrastructural and community development to facilitate agricultural transformation and halt the massive migration of farmers from the countryside to urban centres. These initiatives include the selection of high-yielding and profitable crops for plantation, application of appropriate agricultural technology, sound land and crop management processes, and deployment of robust irrigation management techniques. This study finds that the economic conditions of ethnic minority farmers have improved substantially as a result of the execution of sound, robust and resilient poverty alleviation initiatives by the Vietnamese government.