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The Lao PDR is making the transition from subsistence to cash, and command to market. Rural communities are being drawn ever more tightly into the embrace of the market economy and of the central state. The construction of roads, schools and health centres, the provision of credit and new crops and technologies, and the arrival of traders and the panoply of the consumer economy are all, in their different ways, remoulding rural economy and society. This paper looks at one aspect of this multi- stranded process of agrarian transformation: the role and place of forests and, in particular, non-timber forest products, in rural people's lives and livelihoods. The paper highlights the contradictory and uneven livelihood-eroding/enhancing effects of these transformations. In many upland areas of Laos livelihoods are being squeezed from 'below' by environmental degradation and from 'above' by the operation of government policies and, more generally, by evolving market relations. While market pessimists see market integration as a largely destructive process, the paper highlights the opportunities that market integration can provide through diversification and livelihood reorientation. The challenge is that these opportunities are unequally available and are likely to promote social differentiation. Some households find themselves in a position to embrace new opportunities while others are forced to continue to rely on a declining and degrading forest resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (CLV) have come to be recognized as the new growth frontiers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, especially since the 2000s. Though all the CLV countries were hit by the global financial crisis (GFC), there has been a sharp recovery in all the economies from around 2010 or so, partly aided by the rapid development of their financial sector. While this has formed the basis for optimism about the growth potential of these countries, there have also been concerns that these countries have been experiencing a period of excessive credit growth - an offshoot of rapid financial deepening - which in turn is hampering growth and aggravating financial instability. In light of this discussion, this paper examines the nexus between financial deepening and economic growth employing a Geweke causality framework with quarterly data for CLV countries from 1996 to 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lao PDR has extensive export controls on its staple food, glutinous rice, which keep domestic prices low relative to international prices. Using price, harvest, and export data this paper analyses how glutinous rice prices in Laos PDR are related to those in its trading partners, Thailand and Vietnam. We find that rice prices in Lao PDR are more likely to rise following a good harvest year than a bad or a normal year. This is consistent with export controls being relaxed after good harvests, leading to an increase in exports early in the season and rising prices later as stocks are depleted. There is thus a case for removal of trade restrictions since they give rise to price spikes while keeping the long-term price of glutinous rice low, and thereby hinder increases in income from agriculture. However, since high rice prices are likely to affect the poor negatively in the short to medium term, a combination of an export tax and cash transfers is recommended during the transition period. Although this is a case study of Lao PDR, the findings may equally apply to other developing countries that export their staple food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asian story of miraculous growth and poverty reduction has reinforced mainstream views of development that equate high and sustained economic growth with progress in human wellbeing. But understanding development only in terms of economic growth is not sufficient. This paper offers a different perspective on possible effects of Laos’s transition from a subsistence-oriented economy to a market-oriented economy. We used a multidimensional poverty approach with panel data for the years between 2003 and 2013. Findings suggest that benefits were not equally distributed: 50 per cent of people moved in and out of poverty, and the other half was either non-poor (37%) or always poor (13%). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes the relationship between donor agencies and government during the development of Lao basic education policy in the post-Cold War period, 1991-2000. We argue that Laos had only recently been 're- born' from colonial regimes, and was thus unable to resist or mediate donor policy agendas and donors who acted on behalf of economically developed nations. The nature of the power relationship between donor and government is explored through an analysis of policy developed at that time as well as the perceptions of aid conditionalities, as recalled by government officials and those working in the aid sector at that time. These perceptions were gathered through interviews conducted by one of the authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1986 Lao PDR has greatly reduced the barriers to international trade and the government's direct controls over the economy. Aggregate growth during this reform period has been quite rapid. Although the benefits of growth have gone disproportionately to the non-poor and inequality has increased, poverty incidence is nevertheless estimated to have fallen from about 45% in 1992–93 to 30% in 2002–03. After surveying these developments, this paper discusses the policies that the government is currently proposing as ways to ensure that the benefits of further opening of the economy are more equally shared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In the context of mineral extraction in South East Asia, the rural poor are generally portrayed as victims of large, invading corporatized mining enterprises. However, this paper argues that local villagers have also shown considerable agency in taking advantage of the mineral resource boom by diversifying their livelihoods to include informal mining. In South East Asia, the growth of informal mining has occurred within the overall process of agrarian transition. This paper focuses on a mineral-rich valley in southern Laos to highlight the location-specific nature of such transitions. The valley's environmental transformation has both caused and accompanied a modification in the peasant ways of life, and the recent entry of transnational mining companies and the growing market price of tin have fundamentally altered the relationships of the peasants with place, while at the same time encouraging them to claim mineral resource rights in ways that are not accommodated in conventional mining legislation. To conclude, the paper notes the multiple interpretations and contradictions of the increasing mineral dependence among Lao peasants in a rapidly changing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) is a transitional economy, and one of the few least developed economies in the Southeast Asian region. Lao became a member of ASEAN in July 1997, and will participate in the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) from 1 January 1998. In this paper, we examine the impact that membership of AFTA is likely to have on Lao's trade, government revenue and foreign investment flows. We find that: (i) trade diversion is likely to be low, and that AFTA will provide the vehicle to negotiate market access issues with Thailand; (ii) the reduction in governmerit revenue from trade taxes is likely to be low, particularly in light of the high share of informal trade and only low levels of trade diversion; and (iii) foreign direct investment (FDI) flows are likely to grow sharply in the future, as the legal, administrative and institutional framework in Lao develops to meet the ASEAN standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent can multinational corporations (MNCs) alleviate poverty in host countries? This paper explores this important question by examining managerial perspectives from MNCs and stakeholders in international business in Lao PDR and Thailand. In developing countries in Mekong region, such as Lao PDR and Thailand, the legitimacy of MNCs has been increasingly questioned in recent years. The rise of MNCs in the region has been evident since the end of the cold war. This has persisted during the era of trade liberalisation in Mekong area. When it comes to strategy for MNCs to promote sustainable management that promote long-term benefits to the citizens of the host countries, there has been little attention to understand how MNCs engage with other stakeholders to achieve their sustainable management strategies. In order to comprehend this complex issue, the researcher interviewed 18 professional personnel; 12 of them were managers and team members responsible for the development and implementation of sustainable management and strategies within their organizations (six participants from each country). The remainder were four participants from IGOs in Laos and two participants from a local labour association in Thailand. Participants were asked to discuss four broad topics: motivation for engaging CSR, major CSR activities in the local area, poverty alleviation and CSR activities, and relationships with all stakeholders in their projects. These broad topics were used to direct the conversation on critical aspects of internal and external influences, tools involved in developing CSR within their organizations, conflicts and opportunities around CSR and how they were addressed, and how this informed their understanding of CSR as organizations. The results confirm that contributions by MNCs in the form of economic and social development (public health promotion and educational development) require support from regulatory and community stakeholders in the host countries. Mining MNCs will need to work closely with formal and informal institutions in the community in order to practice and achieve their developmental objectives. Several other factors, such as cultural insensitivity and lack of social initiatives can promote unsustainable and disengagement practices among stakeholders. This study suggests that MNCs and stakeholders in international business should focus on preventive strategies to mitigate chronic poverty in the host countries. The critical perspectives of MNCs and poverty alleviation in developing nations require further discussions. This study has confirmed that MNCs can improve the condition of poverty in the host countries, if they fully understand the condition of the host countries, be flexible and can engage with local stakeholders in various circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Livelihoods in rural southern Laos are highly diverse, comprising a wide range of different productive activities. In this paper motivations for diversification within livelihood strategies in rural communities in southern Laos are investigated through theories of distress-induced risk spreading in response to crises and progressive success and wealth. Results indicate that livelihood diversification at the household level is associated with higher wealth status and ownership of a range of assets as part of a progressive, accumulation livelihood strategy for those with fewer constraints. Diversification strategies across all socioeconomic groups commonly include a combination of agricultural and non-agricultural activities as well as migrant remittances, however, the types of activities undertaken are dependent on wealth. The increased asset status of households extends to enabling higher income-generating migration opportunities and may facilitate transition into both non-agricultural employment, as well as into a wider variety of agricultural employment activities. This further strengthens livelihoods through the mutually reinforcing complementarities across livelihood activities and reducing the risks associated with each. But this has the effect of leaving the poor, with lower levels of diversification, at most risk to natural or economic disasters or other shocks. Results have implications for development policy for rural southern Laos, highlighting the importance of recognizing the positive aspects of livelihood diversification for rural poverty reduction. Broadened policy mechanisms which support and encourage diversification and mobility at the household level are needed. Likewise, pro-poor development initiatives that focus on increasing the diversity of assets (rather than the quantity of any one single asset) of the poor are more likely to be successful in supporting livelihood diversification and reducing vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the quality of the trade statistics of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) by comparing its export/import data with the import/export data of its trading partners (mirror data). The author finds, first, that publicly available Lao PDR statistics compiled by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MIC) are not consistent with the Harmonized System (HS) of classification. It would therefore be advisable for the Lao PDR to release the HS classification-based data. Second, there is concern about the quality of the import data. For example, total imports from major trading partners are less than half of the total of those partners' recorded exports to the Lao PDR. Lao PDR imports of fuel and gas, vehicles and parts, plus construction materials, do not seem to be correctly reflected in the statistics. The government's policy of controlling domestic prices, irrespective of international prices, seems to produce incentives for import smuggling. Third, the overall quality of the Lao PDR's export data is good compared with its import data. Most of the differences between the respective statistics of the Lao PDR and its trading partners are connected with mineral-related and wood-related products. However, export restrictions on raw logs, for example, which aim to support domestic wood processing industries, seem to produce incentives for export smuggling. The unsatisfactory quality of the trade statistics, especially with regard to imports, has important policy implications. First, there is a large loss in tariff revenue. Second, while annual Lao PDR trade deficits appear to be small or moderate if calculated using MIC statistics, the actual deficits are likely to be far larger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laos was drawn into the Second Indochina War, making the country the most heavily bombed country on earth. Although the war ended more than four decades ago, unexploded ordnance (UXO) continues to kill and injure civilians. In many provinces UXO constitutes the major hindrance to socioeconomic development and obstacle to local people earning a decent living. The aim of this article is to examine the ways in which local people have developed livelihood strategies to survive in dangerous environments through the lens of sustainable livelihood perspectives. This article argues that livelihood improvements in Xieng Khouang Province should be characterised as a bottom-up phenomenon. UXO is still a major concern for the government and local people with respect to achieving development objectives. As the financial resources for UXO clearance are limited, education is a powerful tool for creating awareness of UXO risks among local people. The research suggests that more resources should be mobilised to deal with UXO problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laos is a socialist transition economy that has continued to increase its household characteristics, social assets, and human assets, all of which significantly influence livelihood security. The study sample generated 333 responses with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) conducted using the LISREL software 9.30 for Window. The statistical model showed good fit with X2/df = 62, CFI (comparative fit index) = 0.968, GFI (goodness-of-fit index) = 0.969, and RMSEA (root-mean-square error of approximation) = 0.0358, respectively. The findings confirmed that the standardized coefficients for household characteristics (β = 0.429, p < 0.01), social assets (β = 0.505, p < 0.01), and financial assets (β = 0.423, p < 0.01) positively influenced livelihood security. The implication of the current findings regarding the model will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades consumption inequality has risen within Laos, while absolute poverty incidence has halved. The estimated Gini coefficient of private household expenditures per person rose from 0.311 to 0.364. This increase in the sample‐based estimate of inequality was statistically significant and occurred in all regions, in both rural and urban areas and among all major ethnic, educational and sectoral employment categories. Within‐group increases in inequality dominated between‐group changes. Official policy largely overlooks this point, focusing on reducing inequality between rather than within major groups. Economic inequality seems certain to become a more pressing policy concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the impact of credit on consumption in Laos. A two-stage selection bias correction method based on a multinomial logit framework is used to estimate and compare the consumption of borrowing households with and without credit. The results show that compared to what household consumption would have been without credit, borrowing households tend to have higher overall consumption. However, when consumption is disaggregated into food and nonfood, it is found that only formal credit has a positive impact on food spending. Borrowing from semiformal sources and informal sources without interest has a negative impact on food spending. For nonfood consumption, the impact of credit is found to be positive and statistically significant for all credit sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically interrogates current policy-sector approaches to culturally sensitive development and the manner in which culture has been conceptualised within the post-2015 development agenda-setting process. By providing a brief interpretive summary of academic debates surrounding culture and development, an analysis of how ‘culturally sensitive’ practices have been pursued within the policy sector, and an examination of the insufficient consideration given to culturally sensitive development within post-2015 agenda setting, I argue that much uncertainty remains around how to translate complex academic understandings of culture and development into policy responses. Following this, I provide one case study drawn from the small, low-income country of Laos to suggest possibilities as to how culturally sensitive development may be better conceptualised and implemented within a post-2015 global development era. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Government efforts to industrialise and modernise the Lao economy through intensive resource development are having adverse effects on rural livelihoods as resources are degraded and access to limited land and natural resources has intensified. In one of the country's key river basins, Nam Ngum, a series of resource developments including hydropower, mining and agricultural plantations have modified the landscape over the last four decades. Uncoordinated resource developments are putting intense pressure on increasingly scarce natural resources and affecting the lives of people who are dependent on them. Economic diversification of rural households in Feuang District in the Nam Ngum River Basin has created significant discrepancies between the rich and the poor, yet all households remain primarily dependent on agriculture. Land is of enduring importance to rural livelihoods. National development intervention has failed to secure basic livelihoods for rural households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an overview of political and economic developments in Laos during the year 2013. It discusses events that became the subject of international criticism toward the country's one-party government under the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP), including the disappearance of community leader Sombath Somphone while in police custody and a planned dam on the Mekong River near Cambodia. Other topics include civil society, local government reform, and economic development.

The article presents a case study related to the extending healthcare issues towards the informal sector in Laos. It mentions that the country has implemented a social health insurance scheme for formal private sector towards the existing civil servants insurance schemes. It also outlines the government's approach towards the implementation of a mandatory national health insurance scheme towards non-poor self-employed and premiums for the poor.

Infrastructure - broadly defined to include road and rail networks, telecommunications, electricity and other utilities - offers both direct and indirect benefits to economic growth. The direct effects include employment and contracts for local firms, while its role as an enabling technology means that a multiplier effect is provided for the economy as a whole. Infrastructure also has a role to play in promoting the efficiency of governance and social cohesion. The relative importance of these factors varies according to the specific conditions applying within a geographical location. The Burmese capital, Naypyidaw, for example, has a symbolic status as the seat of postcolonial Burmese power, while also offering a strategic location from which to govern the country. The role of infrastructure in this case is to promote efficiency of rule and create a network in which the city can form a node connected with economically important locations. In Phnom Penh and Vientiane, by contrast, infrastructure is being used to both promote economic activities and link up with cross-border markets. In all cases, albeit in different ways, capital cities are being repositioned within actual and emerging power networks in order to control and take advantage of processes of international capital accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the economic development of Laos, a small, land-locked country in southeast Asia, as of May 2011. Economic progress in Laos is described as slow and uneven, with negative side effects that are not insignificant. An argument is presented that human development and security are not necessarily mutually reinforcing phenomena. A holistic approach to development is advocated, which is described as a more equitable means of dealing with competing demands from vulnerable segments of Laotian society.

The article examines the economic status of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) during 2009. It is attested that the global economic recession did not impact the Lao PDR as heavily as it did some countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The author discusses the state of gross domestic product (GDP) in the nation, stemming from activities such as mining exports. Economic growth prospects in 2010 are analyzed.

The omnipotence of the World Bank on a global scale means that it is often regarded as the most influential partner in bringing about transformations in developing countries. This article contributes to ongoing discussions of this issue by examining some effects of the Bank's participatory agenda in one of its flagship projects, the Nam Theun 2 (NT2) hydropower scheme in Laos. Critical accounts suggest that the Bank's promotion of participation in donor-dependent countries like Laos is either a guise or an imposition. These propositions are considered in two settings where participation was debated around the time of the Bank's loan appraisal for NT2: first, an international stakeholders’ workshop held in Vientiane; and second, some international attempts to identify the concerns of villagers living near the NT2 dam site. In workshops and villages, participation is a negotiated performance whereby competing representations emerge through the interaction between village, state and international actors. More generally, this article shows that a grounded view of development can attend to the practices that constrain the hegemonic tendencies of the World Bank, even while maintaining awareness of the potency of its policies and interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Lao PDR's changing fortunes regarding turnaround since 1975. The country's poor performance during the first decade and a half of communist rule reflected, on the one hand, poor economic management on the part of the political leadership and, on the other, various factors related to the country's location in the global political economy. While the decisive victory of the communists in 1975 facilitated the achievement of political stability, these various factors worked against strong economic performance. The country's progress vis-à-vis turnaround between the mid-1980s and 2004 reflected changes both in the leadership's approach to economic policy making and in the global political economy as well as the government's continued ability to maintain political control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With globalization and the introduction of a market economy, profound changes are taking place in Lao society. The transformation is not confined to quantitative econo-mic data, which have hitherto been the prime object of research on the Lao economy; it also affects social structure and cultures. The article argues that the transformation is understood best if analysed in social and cultural terms on the basis of Pierre Bourdieu's concept of social fields. Against this backdrop it becomes clear that the Lao economic field has its own social structure, which is not identical with the structure of other fields. Even though formally a market economy, the economic field is dominated neither by capitalist culture nor by entrepreneurs. Various groups with different cultures struggle for various positions on and definitions of the field. The article examines the groups and their cultures as well as the impact of globalization on them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the economic and political conditions of Laos as of January 2002. Domestic politics; Inflation and exchange rates; Economic development plans; Foreign relations; Challenges facing the economy.

Focuses on economic conditions in Laos and its struggle to restructure its economy toward free-wheeling market laws. History of ethnic insurgency in Zaisomboun; Country's effort to end poverty and environmental damage; Information on Laos' top foreign investors.

Evaluates the economic conditions of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (Indochina). Issues surrounding the lifting of the economic embargo on Vietnam; Socialism in the Lao People's Democratic Republic; Policies adopted in the New Economic Mechanism; Unification of multiple exchange rates since 1986; Constitution adopted by the People's Republic of Kampuchea in 1981.

Focuses on Laos and its membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Demands of being a member of ASEAN; Models of development for the country; History of laos and its national identity; Its relationship with Thailand.

The article focuses on the economy of Laos and states that spending produces a Dutch disease syndrome, a relationship between the increase in exploitation of natural resources and a decline in the manufacturing sector, effect on its economy. It states that the effectiveness of government spending on the poor was analyzed by Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model which revealed that spending should emphasize on rural areas to reduce poverty.