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Parental Altruism and Self-Interest: Child Labor among Late Nineteenth-Century American Families

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Author Info
Parsons, Donald O
Goldin, Claudia

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Abstract

Intergenerational relationships within late nineteenth-century industrial families are analyzed using several large-scale, contemporary household surveys. Nonaltruistic behavior by parents was pervasive. Even among families with positive assets, child labor was common in certain industrial settings, suggesting that child labor (or nonschooling) did not simply reflect parental borrowing constraints. Neither did physical asset transfers offset human capital losses among working youth. A quantitative estimate of parental nonaltruism is derived from an equilibrium labor market model: approximately 90 percent of all child earnings was implicitly competed away through lower adult wages as families migrated to areas with abundant child labor opportunities. Copyright 1989 by Oxford University Press.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Oxford University Press in its journal Economic Inquiry.

Volume (Year): 27 (1989)
Issue (Month): 4 (October)
Pages: 637-59
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Handle: RePEc:oup:ecinqu:v:27:y:1989:i:4:p:637-59

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  1. Rajeev Dehejia & Roberta Gatti, 2002. "Child Labor: The Role of Income Variability and Access to Credit Across Countries," NBER Working Papers 9018, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Bhaskar, Venkataraman & Gupta, Bishnupriya, 2006. "Were American Parents Really Selfish? Child Labour in the 19th Century," CEPR Discussion Papers 5675, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Carol Ann Rogers & Kenneth A. Swinnerton, 2003. "Does Child Labor Decrease When Parental Incomes Rise?," Development and Comp Systems 0306006, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Patrick M. Emerson & André Portela Souza, 2007. "Is Child Labor Harmful? The Impact of Working Earlier in Life on Adult Earnings," IZA Discussion Papers 3027, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  5. Yacouba Diallo, 2001. "Les déterminants du travail des enfants en Côte d'Ivoire," Documents de travail 55, Groupe d'Economie du Développement de l'Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV. [Downloadable!]
  6. Douglas Kruse & Douglas Mahony, 1998. "Illegal Child Labor in the United States: Prevalence and Characteristics," NBER Working Papers 6479, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Levine, Ross, 2009. "Finance and inequality : theory and evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4967, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  8. David Dreyer Lassen & Helene Bie Lilleør, 2008. "Informal Institutions and Intergenerational Contracts: Evidence from Schooling and Remittances in Rural Tanzania," CAM Working Papers 2008-03, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Applied Microeconometrics. [Downloadable!]
  9. Dehejia, Rajeev H. & Gatti, Roberta, 2002. "Child labor : the role of income variability and access to credit in a cross-section of countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2767, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  10. Komlos, John, 2003. "On the Biological Standard of Living of Eighteenth-Century Americans: Taller, Richer, Healthier," Discussion Papers in Economics 53, University of Munich, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Sonia Bhalotra, 2000. "Is Child Work Necessary?," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 0500, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Basu, Kaushik, 1998. "Child labor : cause, consequence, and cure, with remarks on International Labor Standards," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2027, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  13. Kathleen Beegle & Rajeev Dehejia & Roberta Gatti, 2003. "Child Labor, Crop Shocks, and Credit Constraints," NBER Working Papers 10088, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  14. Sonia Bhalotra, 2004. "Parent Altruism, Cash Transfers and Child Poverty," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 04/561, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK. [Downloadable!]
  15. Kathleen Beegle & Rajeev H. Dehejia & Roberta Gatti, 2002. "Do households resort to child labor to cope with income shocks?," Discussion Papers 0203-12, Columbia University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  16. Susan B. Carter & Richard Sutch, 1995. "Fixing the Facts: Editing of the 1880 U.S. Census of Occupations with Implications for Long-Term Trends and the Sociology of Official Statistics," NBER Historical Working Papers 0074, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Drusilla K. Brown & Alan V. Deardorff & Robert M Stern, 2001. "Child Labor: Theory, Evidence, and Policy," Working Papers 474, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Sonia Bhalotra, 2004. "Early Childhood Investments in Human Capital: Parental Resources and Preferences," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 04/562, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK. [Downloadable!]
  19. Dehejia, Rajeev H. & Beegle, Kathleen & Gatti, Roberta, 2003. "Child labor, income shocks, and access to credit," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3075, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  20. Sandro Maffei & Nicole Raabe & Heinrich Ursprung, 2004. "Political Repression and Child Labor: Theory and Empirical Evidence," Working Papers of the Research Group Heterogenous Labor 04-19, Research Group Heterogeneous Labor, University of Konstanz/ZEW Mannheim. [Downloadable!]
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  21. Del Carpio, Ximena V., 2008. "Does child labor always decrease with income ? an evaluation in the context of a development program in Nicaragua," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4694, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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