Phillip Taylor (2007) State attitude towards rural people and ethnic minorities

'... in the government's suite of programs for rural development, the state is responsive to other interests as well: donors such as the Australian and US governments and multilateral agencies such as the World Bank, which offer aid conditional on the adoption of market-based policies. There are strong indications that these interests—and those of an increasingly assertive urban middle class—have captured the voice of government, whose approach to rural development today embodies a mix of deference toward universally applicable laws of development and a paternalistic attitude toward rural people. This attitude is especially evident in depictions of rural people in official development reports as poor, backward, remote, unconnected, unaware, and dependent on the state for their uplift. It is most blatantly revealed in official attitudes toward ethnic minorities, including Khmer people..., whose “backward” customs, religious orientations, and cultural insularity are deemed to impede the operation of markets and of state programs, the beneficial effects of which are taken for granted.'

Phillip Taylor (2007) Poor policies, wealthy peasants: alternative trajectories for rural development in Vietnam

World Bank (2012) Welfare for people in extreme poverty

'Existing poverty and social protection programs provide only partial coverage and limited benefits to poor and at-risk individuals. In 2010, only half of the extreme poor were eligible for benefits under the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs (MOLISA).'

World Bank (2012) Well begun, not yet done: Vietnam's remarkable progress on poverty reduction and the emerging challenges Link

Jonathan London (2013) Welfare and inequalities

'Nor should the progressiveness of Vietnamese or Chinese market-Leninism be over-stated. States in both countries combine Leninist tactics of political organisation with market-based strategies of accumulation and social policies that exhibit both redistributive and neo-liberal elements. Unequal forms of citizenship imposed under state-socialism are reproduced and transformed in a manner that preserves the political supremacy of the Communist Party, while creating new market-based opportunities and inequalities. Terms such as “market socialism” or “capitalism with Chinese/Vietnamese characteristics” are inadequate as descriptors of the welfare regimes in these countries. By contrast, the term “market-Leninism” rejects the widely held but false notion that planned or market economies have any inherent political character. The market-Leninist welfare regimes in Vietnam and China demonstrate that as a class-based determinant of distributive out-comes, Leninist political organisation is ultimately much more important than socialism per se, at least for now.'

Jonathan London (2013) Welfare regimes in China and Vietnam Link

Linda Murray (2012) Link between poverty and postnatal depression in Central Vietnam

'[This study finds] [b]eing classed as poor was significantly associated with both higher [Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale] scores and lower wellbeing ([World Health Organisation Wellbeing Scale] score) in multivariable general linear models. Being classed as poor has also significantly associated with maternal mental health disorders in studies in the North and South of Vietnam (Fisher et al. 2004; Fisher et al. 2010). A large community based study of 2000 adults in Hue city also found an inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and depression (V. D. K. Doan 2011).

... Qualitative phases of the study elucidated the reasons women thought socioeconomic status was important to maternal health... In-depth interviews revealed women were acutely aware of small differences in socioeconomic status between members of their community. Also, they worried about having enough money to bring up their children 'the same as other people.' As one mother quoted 'I have to earn money to bring up my child as equal to other people.''

Linda Murray (2012) PhD thesis: Postnatal Depression in Central Vietnam Link

Tran Hai Hac (2008) Critique of World Bank's pro-poor growth

'Tất nhiên, xoá đói giảm nghèo, trợ giúp người cực nghèo là một hoạt động có ích, cần thiết, cấp bách, cho dù qui mô của nó khiêm tốn. Song không thể không nhận xét rằng hoạt động này được mọi xã hội sử dụng như bình phong để che đậy và không bàn đến vấn đề bất bình đẳng và bất công trong xã hội. Hay nói cách khác, tăng trưởng 'vì người nghèo' giống như việc làm từ thiện của người giàu: nó có chức năng xã hội là duy trì và tái sản xuất những quan hệ xã hội bất công, phi bình đẳng. Về mặt này, Việt Nam, chí ít cho đến nay, không phải là một ngoại lệ.'

Trần Hải Hạc (2008) Tăng trưởng 'vì người nghèo': World Bank và 'câu chuyện thành công' của Việt Nam Link

Adam Fforde (2011) Critique of poverty measurement

'The Vietnamese experience suggests that the core problems of poverty of the current decade are precisely to do with power asymmetries and exclusion that are linked to structures that lead to groups ‘lower down the food chain’ having lives that are measured as having, relatively speaking, low incomes but high levels of health and education. This creates a stable ‘syndrome’, within which the usual mechanisms of stigmatisation (such as of  ‘backward’ ethnic groups) may come into play.'

Adam Fforde (2011) Vietnam: a discussion of poverty, its measurement and likely causes, with special reference to agriculture Link