Since 1986, Vietnam started to move from a centrally-planned towards a market-oriented system. It underwent several major economic and trade reforms – a process which is still not completed. At the same time, it also started to open its economy.

Spatially disaggregated maps of the incidence of poverty can be constructed by combining household survey data and census data.

Geographic targeting is often recommended as a way to improve the impact of social spending and infrastructure investments on rural poverty. Previous research shows that such targeting is not very accurate unless the geographic units are small.

The paper describes the spectacular growth of rice exports from Viet Nam during the period 1989 to 1997. From a situation of food shortages, the country is now the second largest rice exporter after Thailand.

Viet Nam has undergone a profound transformation in recent years and, as a result of a series of macroeconomic and institutional reforms since 1986, it has made substantial progress toward becoming a market economy.