Publications
Publications
- 2008
- HBS Working Paper Series
Accountability and Inequality in Single-Party Regimes: A Comparative Analysis of Vietnam and China
Abstract
Over the past two decades, no two economies have averaged more rapid economic growth than China and Vietnam. But while China's income inequality has risen rapidly over that same time frame, Vietnam's has only grown moderately. Structural and socio-cultural determinants fail to account for these divergent pathways. Existing political variables are also unhelpful. China and Vietnam are coded in exactly the same way, even in the path-breaking work on authoritarian regimes. In this paper, we take a deeper look at political institutions in the two countries, demonstrating that profound differences between the polities directly impact distributional choices. In particular, we find that Vietnamese elite institutions require construction of broader coalitions of policymakers, place more constraints on executive decision making, and have more competitive selection processes. As a result, there are stronger political motivations for Vietnamese leaders to provide equalizing transfers that limit inequality growth.
Keywords
Income Characteristics; Economic Growth; Policy; Government and Politics; Equality and Inequality; China; Viet Nam
Citation
Abrami, Regina M., Edmund Malesky, and Yu Zheng. "Accountability and Inequality in Single-Party Regimes: A Comparative Analysis of Vietnam and China." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 08-099, May 2008.