This paper uses the recent Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey 2004 to analyze the determinants and impacts of migration in Vietnam. Most of the previous studies on the determinants and impacts of migration have focused on destination rather than origin areas of migration. This limits our understanding of the determinants of migration and also does not provide evidence on important impacts of migration such as on household inequality in origin areas.

In terms of determinants of migration, the study shows that migration is a highly selective process and strongly affected by household and commune characteristics, although differently across type of migration and across urban and rural areas. We do find evidence for the existence of a 'migration hump' for economic long-term migration, with an inverted U-shape in the probability of migration with respect to per capita expenditures. The presence of non-farm employment opportunities does reduce short-term migration but not long-term out-migration for economic reasons.

In terms of impacts the study analyzes the impact of migration on household expenditures and household inequality. Migration is found to have a strong positive impact on household expenditures but increases the Gini coefficient of per capita household expenditures from 0.38 to 0.42 in origin areas compared to the no-migration case.