Abstract:
Viet Nam's timely reduction of 63 province-level units to 34 renders its number of provinces typical of countries of its size. International evidence, however, shows that savings and development gains are neither automatic nor evenly shared. Reclassifying 2002-2020 household data onto the new map leaves national measures of poverty and inequality unchanged but moves part of measured inequality from between provinces to within them. Administrative poverty rates also reveal large differences among areas now sharing one provincial budget. This essay offers tentative policy suggestions such as keeping poorer places visible, allocating resources according to need, protecting access to benefits and public services, and connecting lagging areas to jobs and markets.
