Do Steel Consumption and Production Cause Economic Growth?: A Case Study of Six Southeast Asian Countries

Abstract

This study aims to determine the factors of sector gains and labor shifts on poverty of Vietnam, and

examine how far the effects of these two factors on poverty reduction have changed over time. The

empirical analysis utilizes data from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey in 1998 and

2002. As a result, agricultural sector has been central to the strong poverty reduction experienced by

Vietnam over the last decade. Around 60% of the aggregate decline in poverty indicators originated

from improvement in income of farmers. Lower poverty incidence of all the remaining sectors jointly

accounted for around 30% and 20% of the national fall in poverty indices in 1993-1998 and 1998-2002

respectively. In contrast, as a result of quicker movements from low productivity sectors to higher

productivity ones, labor shifts evolved as a more important contributing factor to poverty reduction in

the same period. The highest concentration and severity of the two farmer groups, and their impressive

participation in the reduction of aggregate poverty as pointed out in this study convey a strong

message to policy makers, which implies that policies to reduce poverty in Vietnam must continue to

reach farmers if a considerably further reduction in poverty is to be achieved.