HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION AND INCOME DIVERSIFICATION: THE CASE OF MEKONG RIVER DELTA, VIETNAM
This study is to examine the link between income diversification and household consumption in Mekong River Delta, Vietnam. Moreover, we also identify the factors responsible for changes in total household consumption over time. Results show a clear link between the occupation of the household head and total household expenditure. After controlling for household size we see that additional labour resources in a household are associated with higher levels of household consumption. In terms of labour-quality, more educated households enjoy higher levels of consumption. In addition, a clear pattern is that returns to female education are substantially higher than returns to male education. Besides, access to land tends to significantly increase total household expenditure. Furthermore, the decomposition results show that changes in characteristics play an extremely limited role in determining changes in consumption (at the mean). While most of the increase in growth may be attributed to changes in returns, as discussed already and as now formally shown through the decomposition, most of the increase in consumption may be attributed to changes in the intercept.
Vietnam, Mekong River Delta, diversification, household consumption