Skip to main content

Social Networks and Employment Performance: Evidence from Rural–Urban Migration in Vietnam

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Rural-Urban Migration in Vietnam

Part of the book series: Population Economics ((POPULATION))

  • 548 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter considers the effects of social networks on the income and employment dynamics of rural–urban migrants in Vietnam. Estimation of a causal effect is challenging because unobserved factors affect both employment performance and social networks. I address this endogeneity problem by using the instrumental variable method. The results suggest that social networks improve migrants’ incomes and make wage-earners willing to change their jobs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    The mean of the log of migrants’ current income is 8.44. The effect is calculated as 0.9/8.44 = 0.106 or 10.6% of the mean.

  2. 2.

    The main reason for using OLS rather than other estimators such as logit is that the coefficients estimated by OLS are easier to interpret.

  3. 3.

    On average, there are 12 districts in each province. The area of each district ranges from 27.8 to 3677.4 km2 and the mean is 660 km2. For the period 1975–2006, the data are taken from Thomas et al. (2010).

References

  • ActionAid Vietnam. (2012). Phụ nữ di cư trong nước: Hành trình gian nan tìm kiếm cơ hội [Women’s internal migration: A difficult journey to find opportunities]. Hanoi: Luck House Graphics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bayer, P., Ross, S. L., & Topa, G. (2008). Place of work and place of residence: Informal hiring networks and labor market outcomes. Journal of Political Economy, 116(6), 1150–1196.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belasen, A., & Polachek, S. (2013). Natural disasters and migration. In A. F. Constant & K. F. Zimmermann (Eds.), International handbook on the economics of migration. Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benson, C. (1997). The economic impact of natural disasters in Vietnam. Working paper. Overseas Development Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bentolila, S., Michelacci, C., & Suarez, J. (2010). Social contacts and occupational choice. Economica, 77(305), 20–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bound, J., Jaeger, D. A., & Baker, R. M. (1995). Problems with instrumental variables estimation when the correlation between the instruments and the endogenous explanatory variable is weak. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 90(430), 443–450.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calvò-Armengol, A., Patacchini, E., & Zenou, Y. (2009). Peer effects and social networks in education. Review of Economic Studies, 76(4), 1239–1267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cameron, L., & Shah, M. (2015). Risk-taking behavior in the wake of natural disasters. Journal of Human Resources, 50(2), 484–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cappellari, L., & Tatsiramos, K. (2010). Friends’ networks and job finding rates. CESifo working paper series 3243. Munich: CESifo Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), DOE, Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs (ILSSA), & Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPSARD). (2007). Characteristics of the Vietnamese rural economy: Evidence from a 2006 rural household survey in 12 provinces of Vietnam. Hanoi: Statistical Publishing House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, K., & Drinkwater, S. (2002). Enclaves, neighbourhood effects and employment outcomes: Ethnic minorities in England and Wales. Journal of Population Economics, 15(1), 5–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dang, A. (2012). Cooperation makes beliefs: Weather disasters and sources of social trust in Vietnam. ANU College of Business and Economics working paper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delattre, E., & Sabatier, M. (2007). Social capital and wages: An econometric evaluation of social networking’s effects. Labour, 21(2), 209–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durante, R. (2009). Risk, cooperation and the economic origins of social trust: An empirical investigation. Job market paper. Brown University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Franzen, A., & Hangartner, D. (2006). Social networks and labour market outcomes: The non-monetary benefits of social capital. European Sociological Review, 22(4), 355–368.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • General Statistics Office (GSO). (2011). The 2009 Vietnam population and housing census: Migration and urbanization in Vietnam—Patterns, trends and differentials. Hanoi: Statistical Publishing House.

    Google Scholar 

  • General Statistics Office (GSO), & United Nations Development Program (UNDP). (2001). Census monograph on internal migration and urbanization in Vietnam. Hanoi: Statistical Publishing House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giulietti, C., Guzi, M., Zhao, Z., & Zimmermann, K. (2010). Social networks and the labour market outcomes of rural to urban migrants in China. Working paper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goel, D., & Lang, K. (2019). Social ties and the job search of recent immigrants. ILR Review, 72(2), 355–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter, M. (1995). Getting a job: A study of contacts and careers. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Imbens, G., & Angrist, J. (1994). Identification and estimation of local average treatment effects. Econometrica, 62(2), 467–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, M. O. (2010). An overview of social networks and economic applications. In J. Benhabib, A. Bisin, & M. O. Jackson (Eds.), Handbook of social economics. Cambridge, MA: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, N. (1999). Social networks and status attainment. Annual Review of Sociology, 25, 467–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mouw, T. (2003). Social capital and finding a job: Do contacts matter? American Sociological Review, 68, 868–898.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munshi, K. (2011). Labor and credit networks in developing economies. In J. Benhabib, A. Bissin, & M. O. Jackson (Eds.), Handbook of social economics. Cambridge, MA: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oxfam. (2015). Legal and practice barriers for migrant workers in the access to social protection. Hanoi: Labor Rights Program of Oxfam in Vietnam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patacchini, E., & Zenou, Y. (2012). Ethnic networks and employment outcomes. Regional Science and Urban Economics, 42(6), 938–949.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pellizzari, M. (2010). Do friends and relatives really help in getting a good job? Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 63(3), 494–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Staiger, D., & Stock, J. (1997). Instrumental variables regression with weak instruments. Econometrica, 65, 557–586.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stock, J., Wright, J., & Yogo, M. (2002). A survey of weak instruments and weak identification in generalized method of moments. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 20, 518–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, T., Christiaensen, L., Do, Q. T., & Trung, L. D. (2010). Natural disasters and household welfare: Evidence from Vietnam. Policy research working paper no. WPS 5491. Washington, DC: The World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Topa, G. (2001). Social interactions, local spillovers and unemployment. Review of Economic Studies, 68(2), 261–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • United Nations in Vietnam. (2010). Di cư trong nước: cơ hội và thách thức đối với sự phát triển kinh tế-xã hội ở Việt Nam [Internal migration: Opportunities and challenges to socioeconomic development in Vietnam]. Hanoi: United Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wahba, J., & Zenou, Y. (2005). Density, social networks and job search methods: Theory and application to Egypt. Journal of Development Economics, 78, 443–473.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Duc Anh Dang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Appendix

Appendix

Table 9 Logistic regression
Table 10 LIML Fuller IV estimates: Impacts of number of urban calls on income dynamics

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Dang, D.A. (2019). Social Networks and Employment Performance: Evidence from Rural–Urban Migration in Vietnam. In: Liu, A., Meng, X. (eds) Rural-Urban Migration in Vietnam. Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94574-3_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics