UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HCMC VIETNAM – NETHERLANDS PROGRAMME FOR M.A IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS A MULTIDIMENSIONAL APPROACH TO CHILD POVERTY IN VIETNAM A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS By LE THI KIM NHUNG Academic Supervisor: Dr. TRAN TIEN KHAI Ho Chi Minh, December 2014 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Le Thi Kim Nhung Master’s Thesis VNP19-2015 ABSTRACT In this study, multidimensional child poverty in Vietnam is approached using Young Lives Round 3 dataset. In total, 2898 children were analyzed after missing observations were taken out. Six dimensions with 16 indicators were selected based on previous researches, public consensus and data availability.
These dimensions are: Education, Health, Nutrition, Shelter, Child Work and Leisure. The Alkire and Foster (2011a) counting approach is applied to create multidimensional child poverty index and break down application is used for measuring the depth and intensity of child poverty. When the poverty cut off point is set at level k=0.3, 30% of children were identified to be in multidimensional poor. The shelter dimension contributes most deprived indicators to overall multidimensional child poverty rate while child insurance draws slightly attention due to its contribution to overal rate followed the shelter indications.
With respect to regional disparity, this is specially critical in upland northern region where children are greatly affected by multidimensional poverty. Using poverty line from the cut off point, logistic regression model was carried out to determine major factors that causes overall multidimensional poverty. Household characteristics including parents’ education, employment and household income have significant impact on poverty rate and effect high transition probabilities for the child moving into and out of multidimensional poor condition. Key words: Multidimensional poverty measurement, Child Poverty, Deprivation, Alkire & Foster Methodology, Young Lives.
2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Le Thi Kim Nhung Master’s Thesis VNP19-2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Completion this thesis is a both painful and enjoyable experience. Fortunately, I received a lot of help and support from many people for making this thesis possible. I would like to use this opportunity to express my gratitude to all of them. First and foremost, I would like to give my special appreciation and thanks to my academic supervisor, Dr.
Tran Tien Khai, for always being helpful, patient and encouraged. His comments and instructive criticism advices helped me a lot in writing this thesis. Similarly, I sincerely thank to the VNP Scientific Committee and staffs of Vietnam-Netherlands Programme for their helpfulness and willingness in providing useful information during VNP thesis process. Lastly, I am also hugely appreciated to my family and my classmates at VNP K19 who supported me generously for completing this thesis.
3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Le Thi Kim Nhung Master’s Thesis VNP19-2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES. 7 LIST OF TABLES. 7 LIST OF APPENDICES. Main Research Question.
11 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW. Measuring Child Poverty. Dimensions and Indicators in Multidimensional Child Poverty. Child poverty Profile.
22 4 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Le Thi Kim Nhung Master’s Thesis VNP19-2015 5. 22 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY. Calculation Multidimensional Child Poverty Index (MPI). Rationale of dimensions and indicators selection.
Weights & Poverty Cutoff. Determinants of child poverty. 42 CHAPTER IV: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS. Overview Child Poverty in Vietnam.
Poverty cut off and MPI estimation. Censored Headcount and Related contributions to MPI. Determinants of Child Poverty. 56 5 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Le Thi Kim Nhung Master’s Thesis VNP19-2015 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION.
Key Lesson learned and policy options. Limitation and future research. 67 6 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Le Thi Kim Nhung Master’s Thesis VNP19-2015 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Conceptual Framework. 22 Figure 2: Monetary and multidimensional child poverty in Vietnam 2008 divided by Urban, Rural and Ethnics.
44 Figure 3: Monetary and Multidimensional child poverty in Vietnam, 2008 divided by Regions 45 Figure 4: Proportion of children deprived in each indicators. 46 Figure 5: Indicators deprivation by gender based on Young Lives round 3. 47 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Selected indicators and deprivation threshold (Alkire & Roche, 2012). 18 Table 2: Selected Domains, Indicators and Deprivations Cutoff.
33 Table 3: Determinants of child poverty and model specifications. 40 Table 4: Multidimensional child poverty estimate on various cut off point. 50 Table 5: Contribution of indicators to MPI. 51 Table 6: Decomposition of Multidimensional Poverty indices by region.
52 Table 7: Descriptive statistics of Child Poverty determinants variables. 53 Table 8: Logistic Regression estimates of determinants of child poverty. 54 LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix 1: Indicators for measuring multidimensional child poverty. 67 Appendix 2: Logistic regression.
74 Appendix 3: Regression result with Odds Ratio. 75 Appendix 4: Marginal Effect. 76 Appendix 5: Wald test. 77 7 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Le Thi Kim Nhung Master’s Thesis VNP19-2015 ABREVIATIONS GSO General Statistics Office HDI Human Development Index MDG Millennium Development Goal MPI Multidimensional Poverty Index VHLSS Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey MOLISA Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs UN United Nations UNGA United Nations General Assembly 8 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Le Thi Kim Nhung Master’s Thesis VNP19-2015 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.
Problems Statement Child poverty approach has become an area of focus for last two decades resulting from widely acknowledgement of child focused perspective in poverty eradication (Gordon, 2003; Minujin, Delamonica, González, & Davidziuk, 2005). Major reasons contributed to this increasing acknowledgement include these: Firstly, children are at a higher risk in poverty than adults due to their dependence on distribution of resources from their parents, household and communities in their direct environment (White, Leavy, & Masters, 2003); Secondly, if children grow up in poverty, they seem to be in poor condition in their adulthood as well (Corak, 2006a). Next, children’s basic needs are specific and totally different from adult’s, especially needs for nutrition and education in early stages, and the deprivation of these needs in childhood can cause permanent effect on their later outcome (Duncan & Brooks-Gunn, 1999). As a result, academic and policy makers attempt to target these needs effectively, based on empirical evidence of child poverty’s experiences (Boyden, 2005) and the use of multidimensional approach is necessary to capture these basic needs in identifying indicators for measuring child poverty (UNICEF, 2007b).
In Vietnam, the rates of children who are considered in poverty condition remain high despite the rapid economic growth in the last decade since the renovation in late 1980s has large impact on country poverty reduction. Hinsdale et al. (2013) illustrate that one-third of Vietnamese children, estimated around 7 million children are considered in multidimensional poor. In addition, the high deprivation that children, are facing draws attention of further studies on children’s basic needs for effective policy intervention.
Despite the interest, there have not been comprehensive analyses of poverty towards children, as well as research studies investigating the causes of child poverty, presenting the knowledge gap for policy 9 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Le Thi Kim Nhung Master’s Thesis VNP19-2015 implication policy and target directed towards children. In fact, numerous studies were conducted towards child poverty and deprivation through multidimensional approach in Vietnam (Roelen, 2013; Roelen & Gassmann, 2012; Roelen, Gassmann, & de Neubourg, 2010; UNICEF, 2008). However, these studies only focused on views of choosing methods measuring child poverty and deprivation through multidimensional approach, rather than investigating the characteristics of children who fall into poverty conditions. There are many debates in previous researches on child poverty indicators for measurement in both monetary and multidimensional approach (Gordon, 2003).
Therefore, choosing an appropriate methodology to measure child poverty and define factors impacting child poverty may result in effective policy implications and interventions, which better identify specific poverty situations (Roelen, Gassmann, & Neubourg, 2009). In addition, children’s living conditions depend mostly on their parents or caregivers’ well-being, thus it is necessary to understand causes underlying household poor’s conditions, such as economic and demographic factors that drive individual earning capacity. The objective of this study is to demonstrate the choices of dimensions, indicators for measuring child poverty in Vietnam through multidimensional approach and estimate probability of a child being poor by using data from Young Lives Survey. In particular, this study expects to investigate poverty situation among children aged under 15 in Vietnam and determine factors that decrease or increase the probability of child poverty.
Research Objective The two research objectives are specified as follows: (i) Identify the dimensions, indicators of child poverty in Vietnam through multidimensional approach. (ii) Identify the determinants of child poverty 10 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Le Thi Kim Nhung Master’s Thesis VNP19-2015 3. Main Research Question (i) What are the extents and characteristics of childhood poverty in Vietnam through multidimensional approach? (ii) What factors determine the probability of a child being poor? 4. Research Scope In this study, under-fifteen children are the units of analysis.
In Young Lives dataset, they are divided into two groups: younger cohort (eight years old) and older cohort (fifteen years old). Their deprivations in selected domains and indicators are used as the proxy to measure multidimensional poverty. Data in this study is observed from Young Lives data round 3, year 2009. Research Methodology This research will apply Alkire-Foster methodology to measure child poverty in Vietnam for answering the first research question.
Logistic regression model is used to define significant factors for planning an effective intervention policy in reducing child poverty. Thesis Structure The thesis is structured into four chapters, following the introduction chapter; the rest content is outlined as below: Chapter 2: Literature Review. This chapter will illustrate the literature of child poverty as multidimensional, starting with definition of child poverty and multidimensional approach. Theoretical studies as well as empirical results of child poverty will be reviewed then.
Finally, the profile of child poverty is demonstrated. Chapter 3: Data and Methodology. This chapter analyses the characteristics of the data used and Alkire-Forster methodology adapted to measure child poverty in Vietnam. Arguments as well as grounds for selecting domains and indicators will be 11 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Le Thi Kim Nhung Master’s Thesis VNP19-2015 reviewed then.
In this chapter, weight and poverty cut off follow Alkire-Foster are also outlined. The analytical framework and logistic regression will be further discussed to identify determinants of child poverty. Chapter 4: Empirical Analysis of Child Poverty in Vietnam. This chapter starts with the analysis of the percentage of indicators of overall deprivation.
Next, the Multidimensional Poverty Index, logistic regression model and their interpretation are emphasized. In this chapter, a summary of findings as well as recommendation of relevant policies to reduce child poverty bases on statistical results are also presented. Chapter 5: The overall conclusion is reviewed in this section. Based on the result estimation, key lessons and policy options are recommended for development and application of multidimensional approach for children, followed by the limitations of the study and suggestions for future research.
12 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Le Thi Kim Nhung Master’s Thesis VNP19-2015 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW Child poverty concepts, its definition, measurement approaches and profile are discussed in this chapter. In the first part, this chapter starts with the definition of child poverty and multidimensional approach for measuring. Literature review towards selecting dimensions, indicators to measure multidimensional child poverty in previous studies is presented in section 2. Next part, a profile of child poverty will be reviewed in section 4.
And then, based on sections 3 and 4, the conceptual framework is suggested in the following section. Finally, literature review chapter is summarized in section 5.