Wealth Paradox in Vietnam: Landholdings, Child Age, and Agricultural Labor Participation

Abstract

Despite economic growth, child labor persists in the agricultural sector. The wealth paradox—whereby increased land size leads to an increase in child labor—remains underexplored in the Vietnamese context. This study investigates this paradox in Dak Lak province, Vietnam, using data from the Thailand Vietnam Socio-Economic Panel. We examine the nonlinear relationship between cultivated land area and child farm labor, specifically analyzing how children’s age moderates this effect. We use a probit model to estimate the probability that children (aged 5–17 years) engage in household agricultural work as their primary occupation. We find a significant inverted-U-shaped relationship between land wealth and child labor, which supports the wealth paradox hypothesis. This effect is significantly stronger for children aged 16 years and above than for those aged 15 years and under. The probability of child labor peaks at land sizes of 3.4–3.6ha, which is substantially above the sample average, implying that future scale expansion could inadvertently increase child labor. Therefore, policies encouraging farm expansion should be complemented by interventions that reduce incentives for child labor, especially among younger children. We find no significant evidence that improved proximity to schools reduces this probability.