TY - JOUR

T1 - Natural resource extraction and ethnic inequality in Dak Lak, Vietnam

AU - Bierkamp, Sina

AU - Nguyen, Trung Thanh

AU - Grote, Ulrike

N1 - Funding Information: We thank the farmers in Dak Lak for their support and cooperation. We acknowledge the financial support of the German Research Foundation (DFG) via the Thailand Vietnam Socio Economic Panel Project ( www.tvsep.de ) (Funding No. DFG – FOR 756/2). Furthermore, we thank the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable feedback.

PY - 2023/9/8

Y1 - 2023/9/8

N2 - Natural resource extraction is an important livelihood strategy for poor rural households in developing and emerging countries. Despite the sharp decline in poverty in Vietnam, inequality still exists between the ethnic majority and minority. This paper aims to analyze the impact of natural resource extraction on ethnic inequality. We use panel data from Dak Lak in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition shows that ethnic differences in extraction are due to different group characteristics and different returns to these characteristics. Endogenous switching regressions find that extraction has heterogeneous effects on consumption across extracting and non-extracting households, and between majority and minority households. Treatment effects suggest that extraction sustains the consumption of extracting minority households because their consumption would decline if they stopped extracting. Our results indicate that it is important to improve the natural resource base and the ability of minorities to cope with shocks.

AB - Natural resource extraction is an important livelihood strategy for poor rural households in developing and emerging countries. Despite the sharp decline in poverty in Vietnam, inequality still exists between the ethnic majority and minority. This paper aims to analyze the impact of natural resource extraction on ethnic inequality. We use panel data from Dak Lak in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. The Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition shows that ethnic differences in extraction are due to different group characteristics and different returns to these characteristics. Endogenous switching regressions find that extraction has heterogeneous effects on consumption across extracting and non-extracting households, and between majority and minority households. Treatment effects suggest that extraction sustains the consumption of extracting minority households because their consumption would decline if they stopped extracting. Our results indicate that it is important to improve the natural resource base and the ability of minorities to cope with shocks.

KW - endogenous switching regression

KW - ethnic inequality

KW - natural resource extraction

KW - Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition

KW - Vietnam

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85171282941&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/S1355770X23000062

DO - 10.1017/S1355770X23000062

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85171282941

VL - 28

SP - 559

EP - 579

JO - Environment and Development Economics

JF - Environment and Development Economics

SN - 1355-770X

IS - 6

ER -