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Abstract This special issue comprises six papers analysing different dimensions of inequalities in African countries. Three papers deal with the trend in inequality in consumption in Mozambique, with multidimensional poverty in four sub‐Saharan countries, and with the relationship between living conditions and subjective well‐being in African countries. The other three are focused on gender issues and are focused on Mozambique, dealing with gender inequalities in the access to contract farming arrangements as well as to employment out of subsistence agriculture, or with the effect of women's empowerment on children's health. This introduction provides a short overview of how they contribute to a better understanding of inequalities in low‐income countries.

In this article, we assert that developing countries are much better prepared to undertake negotiations at the Conference of the Parties in Paris (CoP21) as compared to CoP15 in Copenhagen. An important element of this is the accumulation of knowledge with respect to the implications of climate change and the ongoing internalization thereof by key institutions in developing countries. The articles in this special issue set forth a set of technical contributions to this improved understanding. We also summarize five major lessons related to uncertainty, extreme events, timing of impacts, the inseparability of the development and climate agendas, and the rate of assimilation of climate and development information in key institutions. They are drawn from the Development Under Climate Change (DUCC) project carried out by UNU-WIDER of which the countries of the Greater Zambeze Valley formed a part. Finally, we outline three areas for future research.

Viet Nam is a populous Southeast Asian economy with a particular socioeconomic and political history. At the end of the 'American War' in 1975 ambitions for the future were high, but despite its many potentials, the economy remained poor. International isolation played its role as did centralist policies; and the five-year plan adopted in 1976 turned out as a complete failure. Economic policies started to be reversed following economic collapse in the mid-1980s, and Viet Nam initiated its home-grown Doi Moi reform process. Accordingly, wide-ranging institutional reforms have been gradually implemented since then, including a greater reliance on market forces in the allocation of resources and the determination of prices. A shift from an economy dominated by the state and cooperative sectors to a situation where the private sector and foreign investment account for a relatively high proportion of GDP can also be noted.