TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Dang, Hai-Anh H
AU  - Do, Minh N.N.
AU  - Le, Duy-Anh
        TI  - Bigger Provinces, Hidden Gaps:  A View of Viet Nam’s 63-to-34 Reform beyond the Averages
        PY  - 2026/Sep/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18920
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18920
        AB  - 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.
        KW  - administrative consolidation
KW  - provincial mergers
KW  - decentralization
KW  - poverty
KW  - inequality
KW  - social protection
KW  - modifiable areal unit problem
KW  - Viet Nam
        ER  -