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Multidimensional Wellbeing Inequality in a Developing Country: A Case Study of Vietnam

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Abstract

The widespread adoption of the concept of wellbeing in the social sciences literature has allowed researchers to move beyond a narrow economic focus on income and consumption as the primary measure of inequality and poverty. Although statistical measurement and analyses of wellbeing have become increasingly feasible due to the availability of rich datasets, the empirical literature on wellbeing remains deficient in a number of ways. In this paper we argue that it is necessary that empirical studies of wellbeing encompass multiple. Applying Sen’s capability approach as our theoretical model we subsequently develop a modelling framework that applies the polychoric principal component analysis (PCA) method for the calculation of objective wellbeing and wellbeing inequality using household asset, education, health and housing dimensions. Findings from our case study of Vietnam challenge previous single dimensional analyses and reveal a number of layers to our understanding of wellbeing inequality in Vietnam. We argue that our use of polychoric PCA is especially suited to the analysis of wellbeing by explicitly incorporating the analysis of both cardinal and ordinal variables and overcoming deficiencies established in the literature relating to the use of standard PCA.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Source: VHLSS 2002–2008

Fig. 3

Source: VHLSS 2002–2008

Fig. 4

Source: VHLSS 2002–2008

Fig. 5

Source: VHLSS 2002–2008

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Notes

  1. Non sequitur: ‘a statement that is not connected in a logical or clear way to anything said before it’ Merriam-Webster dictionary (n.d.). "Non Sequitur", Merriam-Webster.com.

  2. Electric generator variable is kept in this study despite small value of coefficient as to show the efficacy of polychoric PCA in generating the correlation coefficients between the variables and the first principal component.

  3. Also see alternative bandwidths in “Appendix 2”.

  4. See map of Vietnam “Appendix 3”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Political Science, Can Tho University, Can Tho, Vietnam

    Phuc Van Phan

  2. School of Accounting Economics and Finance, Faculty of Business, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Martin O’Brien

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  1. Phuc Van Phan
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Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 6.

Table 6 First principal component loading factors
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Appendix 2

See Fig. 6.

Fig. 6
figure 6

Source: VHLSS 2002–2008

Additional kernel density of wellbeing estimates with alternative bandwidths, 2002–2008.

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Appendix 3

See Fig. 7.

Fig. 7
figure 7

Source: nationsonline.org (n.d.)

Map of Vietnamese regions.

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Van Phan, P., O’Brien, M. Multidimensional Wellbeing Inequality in a Developing Country: A Case Study of Vietnam. Soc Indic Res 145, 157–183 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-019-02104-0

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