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Does promoting school attendance reduce child labor? Evidence from Burkina Faso's BRIGHT project

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  • de Hoop, Jacobus
  • Rosati, Furio C.

Abstract

Using data from BRIGHT, an integrated program that aims to improve school participation in rural communities in Burkina Faso, we investigate the impact of school subsidies and increased access to education on child work. Regression discontinuity estimates demonstrate that, while BRIGHT substantially improved school participation, it did not reduce – in fact may have increased – children's participation in economic activities and household chores. This combination of increased school participation and work can be explained by the introduction of a simple non-convexity in the standard model of altruistic utility maximizing households. If education programs are implemented to achieve a combination of increased school participation and a reduction in child work they may either have to be combined with different interventions that effectively reduce child work or they may have to be tuned more carefully to the incentives and constraints the child laborer faces.

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  • de Hoop, Jacobus & Rosati, Furio C., 2014. "Does promoting school attendance reduce child labor? Evidence from Burkina Faso's BRIGHT project," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 78-96.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:39:y:2014:i:c:p:78-96
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2013.11.001
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    1. Edmonds, Eric V., 2008. "Child Labor," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 57, pages 3607-3709, Elsevier.
    2. Harounan Kazianga & Dan Levy & Leigh L. Linden & Matt Sloan, 2013. "The Effects of "Girl-Friendly" Schools: Evidence from the BRIGHT School Construction Program in Burkina Faso," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 41-62, July.
    3. repec:mpr:mprres:6354 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. de Hoop, Jacobus & Rosati, Furio C., 2014. "Does promoting school attendance reduce child labor? Evidence from Burkina Faso's BRIGHT project," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 78-96.
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    11. de Hoop, Jacobus & Rosati, Furio C., 2014. "Does promoting school attendance reduce child labor? Evidence from Burkina Faso's BRIGHT project," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 78-96.
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    14. Harounan Kazianga & Damien de Walque & Harold Alderman, 2009. "Educational and Health Impacts of Two School Feeding Schemes: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Rural Burkina Faso," Economics Working Paper Series 0904, Oklahoma State University, Department of Economics and Legal Studies in Business.
    15. Kathleen Beegle & Rajeev Dehejia & Roberta Gatti, 2009. "Why Should We Care About Child Labor?: The Education, Labor Market, and Health Consequences of Child Labor," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(4).
    16. Jacobus de Hoop & Furio C. Rosati, 2014. "Cash Transfers and Child Labor," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 29(2), pages 202-234.
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    18. Ravallion, Martin & Wodon, Quentin, 2000. "Does Child Labour Displace Schooling? Evidence on Behavioural Responses to an Enrollment Subsidy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(462), pages 158-175, March.
    19. Dan Levy & Matt Sloan & Leigh Linden & Harounan Kazianga, "undated". "Impact Evaluation of Burkina Faso's BRIGHT Program," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 4366a75a34e84e7aa09190fea, Mathematica Policy Research.
    20. Cameron, Lisa, 2009. "Can a public scholarship program successfully reduce school drop-outs in a time of economic crisis? Evidence from Indonesia," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 308-317, June.
    21. repec:mpr:mprres:7836 is not listed on IDEAS
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    1. School subsidies may increase school attendance and child labor
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2012-07-09 20:28:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Congdon Fors, Heather & Houngbedji, Kenneth & Lindskog, Annika, 2019. "Land certification and schooling in rural Ethiopia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 190-208.
    2. Jacobus de Hoop & Furio C. Rosati, 2014. "Cash Transfers and Child Labor," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 29(2), pages 202-234.
    3. Harounan Kazianga & Leigh Linden & Ali Protik & Matt Sloan, 2016. "The Medium-Term Impacts of Girl-Friendly Schools: Seven-Year Evidence from School Construction in Burkina Faso," Development Working Papers 406, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano, revised 11 Nov 2016.
    4. Claus Pörtner, 2016. "Effects of parental absence on child labor and school attendance in the Philippines," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 103-130, March.
    5. de Hoop, Jacobus & Rosati, Furio C., 2014. "Does promoting school attendance reduce child labor? Evidence from Burkina Faso's BRIGHT project," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 78-96.
    6. Posso, Alberto, 2023. "Bilingual education and child labor: Lessons from Peru," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 840-872.
    7. Dammert, Ana C. & de Hoop, Jacobus & Mvukiyehe, Eric & Rosati, Furio C., 2018. "Effects of public policy on child labor: Current knowledge, gaps, and implications for program design," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 104-123.
    8. Basu, Arnab K. & Dimova, Ralitza, 2020. "Household Behavioral Preferences and the Child Labor-Education Trade-off: Framed Field Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia," IZA Discussion Papers 13011, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Prachi Pundir & Ashrita Saran & Howard White & Ramya Subrahmanian & Jill Adona, 2020. "Interventions for reducing violence against children in low‐ and middle‐income countries: An evidence and gap map," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(4), December.
    10. Lee, Jieun & Kim, Hyoungjong & Rhee, Dong-Eun, 2021. "No harmless child labor: The effect of child labor on academic achievement in francophone Western and Central Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    11. Dagim Dawit Gonsamo & Herman Hay Ming Lo & Ko Ling Chan, 2021. "The Role of Stomach Infrastructures on Children’s Work and Child Labour in Africa: Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-26, August.
    12. Basu, Arnab K. & Dimova, Ralitza, 2021. "Household Preferences and Child Labor in Rural Ethiopia," IZA Discussion Papers 14062, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Burkina Faso; Child labor; Regression discontinuity; School participation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa

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