Female rural–urban migrants and online marketplaces in emerging economies

Evidence from Thailand and Vietnam

authored by

Trung Thanh Nguyen, Manh Hung Do

Abstract

This research aimed to examine the factors affecting the participation of female rural–urban migrants in online marketplaces, and the welfare gains and their distribution. Our analysis was based on a unique dataset of rural households, villages, and rural–urban migrants in Thailand and Vietnam. Online market participation is classified into three activities: financial transactions, trading, and business. We accounted for the endogeneity issue of online market participation in the assessment of welfare impact by using an instrumental variable approach. Our results show that participation has a positive effect on the consumption of female migrants only when they participate in the complete bundle of online market activities. In addition, we find that the poor benefit insignificantly from online marketplaces. This raises a concern about increasing welfare inequality and suggests the poor should be supported so they are not left behind.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Environmental Economics and World Trade

Type

Article

Journal

Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies

Volume

9

Pages

317-342

No. of pages

26

ISSN

2050-2680

Publication date

13.12.2022

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Sociology and Political Science, Public Administration, Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous), Political Science and International Relations, Strategy and Management

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.359 (Access: Open)