Showing papers by "Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences published in 2016"

Growth trajectories from conception through middle childhood and cognitive achievement at age 8 years: Evidence from four low- and middle-income countries.

Abstract: This work was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation [OPP10327313]; Eunice Shriver Kennedy National Institute of Child Health and Development [R01 HD070993]; and Grand Challenges Canada [Grant 0072-03]. The data used in this study come from Young Lives, an international study of childhood poverty, following the lives of 12,000 children in four countries – Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam – over 15 years (www.younglives.org.uk). Young Lives is core-funded by UK aid from the Department for International Development (DFID) and co-funded from 2010–2014 by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and by Irish Aid from 2014 to 2015.

Welfare dynamics with synthetic panels : the case of the Arab world in transition

Abstract: This paper studies welfare dynamics, especially changes associated with middle-class status in countries in the Middle East and North Africa, before and after the Arab Spring transitions, using objective and subjective welfare measures. Absent panel data, the analysis employs state-of-the-art synthetic panel techniques using repeated cross sections of expenditure data from household surveys and subjective well-being data from value surveys, which were conducted during the 2000s and the Arab Spring period. The objective welfare dynamics indicate mixed trends. About half the poor in the 2000s moved out of poverty by the end of the decade, but chronic poverty remained high; upward mobility was strong in Syria and Tunisia, but downward mobility was pronounced in Yemen and Egypt. Subjective well-being dynamics suggest negative developments in most countries during the Arab Spring transitions. Low education achievement, informal worker status, and rural residency are positively associated with lower than average chances for upward mobility, and greater than average chances for downward mobility according to both types of welfare measures.

Negotiating agency in cases of intimate partner violence in Vietnam

Abstract: Understandings of women's agency in cases of intimate partner violence (IPV) have been dominated by an individualistic focus on help-seeking behaviour The role of children in influencing, enabling and restricting the decision-making processes of their mothers has been largely ignored We adopt biographical analytical approaches to qualitative longitudinal data collected as part of the Young Lives study to highlight the interdependency of women's and children's agency in contexts of IPV in Vietnam We illustrate how women's agency is both enabled and constrained by their relationships with their children, as well as by wider structural processes, and examine how gender and generation intersect In marginalised settings where few formal services exist or strong social norms preclude women from accessing support, understanding these informal coping strategies and the processes by which these are negotiated is essential for developing more effective policy responses

Sustainable Flows Water Management and Municipal Flexibility in Bangkok and Hanoi

Abstract: There is widespread recognition that cities in the Global South need to transition toward sustainable water practices. This is particularly true of places experiencing growth and impacts from clima...

Updating Poverty Estimates in the Absence of Regular and Comparable Consumption Data: Methods and Illustration with Reference to a Middle-Income Country

Abstract: Monitoring poverty trends on a timely and consistent basis is a priority for policy makers. These objectives are difficult to achieve in practice when household consumption data are neither frequently collected, nor constructed using consistent and transparent criteria. This paper develops and applies a formal framework for survey-to-survey poverty imputation in an attempt to overcome these obstacles. The framework introduced here imposes few restrictive assumptions, works with simple variance formulas, provides guidance on the selection of control variables for model building, and can be generally applied to imputation involving surveys with either the same, or differing, sampling designs. Results from combining Jordan’s Household Expenditure and Income Survey with its Unemployment and Employment Survey are quite encouraging, with imputation-based poverty estimates closely tracking direct estimates of poverty.

The role of rice in poverty dynamics in rural Vietnam: 2002–2008

Abstract: Using the Vietnamese Household Living Standards Surveys of 2002, 2004, 2006, and 2008, this paper investigates the role of rice in poverty dynamics in the recent context of Vietnam We find that sizeable changes in rice prices in the 2000s, which were driven largely by the country's integration into the world markets, have not helped rural households escape poverty, even for households with large-scale rice production Our results also document that changes in rice output and productivity did not help mitigate poverty either The paper provides evidence to explain why a substantial exogenous increase in the rice prices between 2006 and 2008 did not help rural households to move out of poverty, while similar changes did help in the 1990s

Vietnamese Civic Organisations: Supporters of or Obstacles to Further Democratisation? Results from an Empirical Survey

Abstract: In political science and in development cooperation, civic organisations (COs) under authoritarian rule are usually seen as supporters of processes that move towards democratisation. However, these organisations are sometimes criticised for their support of those in power. Within this context, critics refer to the fact that many COs have, for example, authoritarian intra-organisational structures. This characteristic clearly limits their potential to be supporters of democratisation processes. In this paper, we proceed from the assumption that Vietnamese COs can be both supporters of democracy and organisations that help to maintain authoritarian rule; they can sometimes even be both at the same time. COs are “polyvalent” (Kosler). More concretely, what COs are and which role(s) they play in the political system is mainly but not exclusively dependent on the impact the state has on them, and is at the same time dependent on the effects that those organisations have on the state. The results from an empirical survey, supported by the German Research Council (2013–2016) and carried out as a co-operation between the Institute of Asian Studies/GIGA Hamburg and the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, suggest the following: - Most Vietnamese COs are hierarchically structured, if not organised in an authoritarian way. They are not “schools of democracy”, in the sense of Tocqueville. - Most Vietnamese COs that have engaged in the welfare provision sector, either willingly or unwillingly, have helped to foster the foundations of authoritarianism. -In the field of economic policies, the COs invited by the state to participate in and contribute to the formulation of policies do help, overall, to secure existing power structures, even though these organisations also help change various economic policies and even though their activities produce some democracy-promoting effects. - In the policy field of gender equality, women’s rights, and rights of sexual minorities, the mass organisation Vietnam Women’s Union supports the state’s respective discourse. Some NGOs active in this policy field are doing both: They support and criticise the state’s discourse on gender norms and the rights of sexual minorities. In the conclusion, we answer the question of which Vietnamese COs can be seen as supporters of further democratisation and which can be classified as obstacles.

Vietnam–India Economic Ties Challenges and Opportunities since 2007

Abstract: Vietnam and India have had good political relations since the two countries gained independence in the 1940s. Despite the good political ties, however, economic collaboration was not a priority in bilateral relations until the 1990s. After 1990, the situation started to change as Vietnam began implementing its opening up policy and India saw Vietnam as an important partner in the deployment of its Look East Policy. Thus, both Vietnam and India have made great efforts to promote trade and investment cooperation between the two countries. Certain difficulties, nevertheless, continue to hinder bilateral economic relations. This paper is an attempt to analyse Vietnam–India economic relations since the two countries established a strategic partnership in 2007, with a focus on the economic advantages and needs of Vietnam and India, the current situation of Vietnam–India economic relations, and prospects for the further development of these relations.

Affect of Uncertainty Avoidance on Venture Capital Investing Activities in Asian Countries

Abstract: This research aims to use country–level uncertainty avoidance degree to explain the variation of venture capital investing activities across different Asian countries The analysis of venture capital activity done for 11 Asian countries in period from 2003 to 2012 shows that country-level uncertainty avoidance degree have a significant negative impact on venture capital activity Specifically, countries with higher degree of uncertainty avoidance degree, has a less developed venture capital market (a smaller-sized market with smaller venture capital deals)

Câm lặng (silence) in Receptions of Rabindranath Tagore in Colonial Vietnam

Abstract: This article analyses the state of câm l ặ ng (silence) embodied in Vietnamese literary reactions to Rabindranath Tagore and his works during the French colonial period to address the question of why the Vietnamese colonial reception of Tagore was marginalized from the socialist Vietnamese historiography. The article argues that silence – an image of Annamite spirituality promoted by Tagore and his works as well as by Vietnamese intellectuals – conforms to the Orientalist discourse of spiritual East. Such colonial appreciations of Tagore do not meet any Vietnamese national and class struggles, thus they are made invisible in postcolonial Vietnamese historiography.

Vietnam, Families in

Abstract: Marriage is the most common method of forming a family in Vietnam. Over two-thirds of the population over the age of 15 is married, while the divorce rate is very low. Most families fall into the definition of the nuclear family, and the average number of people per family is 3.7. Empirical evidence has revealed the popularity of patrilocal residence patterns in Vietnam but matrilocal residence model also exists. Extended families and kinship networks still play a significant role in providing social and emotional supports to family members. The traditional pattern of domestic labor division, in which women have the higher burden, continues to dominate. This pattern influences parental socialization of children and the respective value placed on sons and daughters. Families in Vietnam in the twenty-first century are still a source of caregiving for their members. However, pressures from modern life are creating significant challenges for how families function. Keywords: Asian family model; care for elderly; co-residence patterns; domestic labor division; gender role; living arrangements; parental care; patrilocality; son preference; Vietnamese family studies

Z in company names: trendy clothing for a typical Vietnamese sound

Abstract: The letter Z is not part of the Vietnamese alphabet, any more than F, J and W. But it is far from uncommon in language use. It appears in the names of companies that target a popular audience, e.g. Zing for a local competitor to Yahoo. Why is Z, the least used letter of the English alphabet, so trendy in present-day Vietnamese? The evidence reported here suggests that the letter Z constitutes foreign-looking clothing for a typical Vietnamese sound. In Hanoi Vietnamese, historical /ð/, /ʒ/ and /r/ (orthographic D, GI and R) merged to /z/, making the voiced alveolar fricative a highly frequent sound – and a potential identity marker for Hanoian speakers, with Z as a unified written rendering. The results of an automated search through a large corpus of contemporary texts support the conclusions drawn from the qualitative analysis of examples.

ASEAN’s Role in Preventing Conflict in the East Sea (Bien Dong)

Abstract: ASEAN’s main ambition and goal since establishment has been to create a environment of peace and stability in Southeast Asia to help its member countries maintain independence, sovereignty and develop in a sustainable manner. This has been manifested in most of ASEAN’s documents, especially the ASEAN Charter that has been brought to life since December 2008. Moreover, the prevention, mediation and management of conflict is one of the main components of the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC), one of the 3 main pillars that the grouping is determined to realize by the end of 2015. Thus, participating in resolving disputes and conflicts in the East Sea is part of ASEAN's agenda and is a responsibility and in the interest of the Association. Moreover, the disputes in interests in the East Sea in the recent years have been pushed to a relatively serious level, increasing the intervention of the countries outside of ASEAN and of its members. This trend is deeply affecting the regional environment of peace and cooperation in the region, changing the perception and strategic actions of many countries, including arms races and rallying of forces to adapt to the volatility in the region. This paper focuses on 3 main points: 1) Why should ASEAN participate in resolving disputes in the East Sea; 2) ASEAN’s participation - successes and drawbacks; 3) What should ASEAN continue to do to exert itself as the center and catalyst for the mediation escalating disputes in the maritime region.