Bombing and the Two Vietnams

45 Pages Posted: 12 Jun 2021

See all articles by Vu Vuong

Vu Vuong

The University of Western Australia

Simon Chang

University of Western Australia - Department of Economics; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Michael Palmer

University of Western Australia

Abstract

The Vietnam War occurred when Vietnam was divided into two states with contrasting institutions. North Vietnam was characterized by a command economy under a stable political regime, whereas South Vietnam experienced a market economy and prolonged political instability. This paper uses this context to investigate the heterogeneous effect of childhood bombing exposure on health in adulthood. On average we found negative long-term effects on adult height and body mass index among the South Vietnamese population, while their counterparts in the North were barely affected. We argue that this heterogeneity is most likely attributable to the interplay of institutions and bombing.

JEL Classification: I15, O15, I31, H56, N35, N45

Suggested Citation

Vuong, Vu and Chang, Kang-Hung and Palmer, Michael, Bombing and the Two Vietnams. IZA Discussion Paper No. 14443, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3865468 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3865468

Vu Vuong (Contact Author)

The University of Western Australia ( email )

35 Stirling Highway
Crawley, Western Australia 6009
Australia

Kang-Hung Chang

University of Western Australia - Department of Economics ( email )

35 Stirling Highway
Crawley, Western Australia 6009
Australia
+61-8-64882893 (Phone)

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Michael Palmer

University of Western Australia ( email )

35 Stirling Highway
Crawley, Western Australia 6009
Australia

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
46
Abstract Views
347
PlumX Metrics