Although the average poverty level in Lao PDR has declined substantially
since the beginning of economic reforms in 1986, sub-national dynamics give rise to
a discussion of the trends and issues that determine and sustain provincial poverty
and the variegated processes of rural transition. It appears that migration to core
areas does not always generate better living standards, as migration to Vientiane
Capital and Vientiane Province also results in a relocation of poverty from peripheral
to core areas. This article sheds light on these problems and discusses the implications
for the spatial dimensions of poverty in core provinces located on emerging
Greater Mekong Subregion corridors and peripheral provinces. A case study of
Savannakhet, located along the East West Economic Corridor, shows how rural
households cope with the pressures arising from increasing market forces and regionalization.
Based on in-depth fieldwork in the village of Ban Gnang Pho Sy, the
results indicate that a shift occurred among the rural poor, in which their livelihoods
changed from being based purely on subsistence agriculture to being focused increasingly
upon pluriactive (commercial) farming, livelihood diversification and
labour migration to Thailand. Provinces located along emerging corridors experience
a complex mosaic of impacts of integration due to fragmented ethnic-linguistic
geographies and the varying relevance of pull versus push factors: imports versus
exports, inward versus outward investments, and in- versus out-migration. In sum,
rather than the neoliberal promise of a flatter socioeconomic landscape, the human
geography of the Greater Mekong Subregion remains rough, due to politicization of
foreign direct investments, complex land dealings and landlessness, migration patterns
and rising inequality.