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Buying Out Child Labor?

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Abstract

In this paper we view child labor as a negative externality exerted by some poor countries on richer nations. The practice of child labor can thus be used by the poor to extract some form of compensation over time. We build a two-country growth model with international externality. We then calibrate our model to the United States and a poor country, solve it numerically and provide a quantitative description of the minimum transfers necessary to induce the poor to give up child labor. We then check their sustainability from the point of view of the rich. This is one of the first attempts at quantifying a moral issue.

Dans ce papier, nous considérons le travail des enfants comme une externalité négative exercée par quelques pays pauvres sur les nations plus riches. La pratique du travail des enfants peut donc être utilisée par les pauvres pour extraire une forme de compensation à travers le temps. Nous construisons un modèle de croissance à deux pays avec une externalité internationale. Ensuite, nous étalonnons notre modèle aux Etats-Unis et un pays pauvre, le résolvons numériquement et donnons une description quantitative des transfers minimaux nécessaires pour inciter les pauvres à abandonner le travail des enfants. Puis nous vérifions la soutenabilité du point de vue des riches. Ceci est une des premières tentatives de quantifier un problème moral.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by CREFE, Université du Québec à Montréal in its series Cahiers de recherche CREFE / CREFE Working Papers with number 123.

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Length: 19 pages
Date of creation: Oct 2000
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Handle: RePEc:cre:crefwp:123

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Related research

Keywords: Child labor; poverty trap; international transfers;

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References

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  1. Dessy, Sylvain E. & Pallage, Stephane, 2001. "Child labor and coordination failures," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 469-476, August.
  2. Benhabib, Jess & Spiegel, Mark M., 1994. "The role of human capital in economic development evidence from aggregate cross-country data," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 143-173, October.
  3. Basu, Kaushik & Van, Pham Hoang, 1998. "The Economics of Child Labor," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 412-27, June.
  4. Basu, Kaushik, 1998. "Child labor : cause, consequence, and cure, with remarks on International Labor Standards," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2027, The World Bank.
    Gary S. Becker & Kevin M. Murphy & Robert Tamura, 1994. "Human Capital, Fertility, and Economic Growth," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education (3rd Edition), pages 323-350 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  5. Stephane Pallage, 1996. "A Two-Country Model of Renewable Resource Sharing," Cahiers de recherche CREFE / CREFE Working Papers 41, CREFE, Université du Québec à Montréal.
  6. Canagarajah, Sudharshan & Coulombe, Harold, 1997. "Child labor and schooling in Ghana," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1844, The World Bank.
  7. Azariadis, Costas, 1975. "Implicit Contracts and Underemployment Equilibria," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 83(6), pages 1183-1202, December.
  8. George Psacharopoulos & Harry Anthony Patrinos, 1997. "Family size, schooling and child labor in Peru - An empirical analysis," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 387-405.
  9. Galor, Oded & Tsiddon, Daniel, 1997. " The Distribution of Human Capital and Economic Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 93-124, March.
  10. Robert J. Barro & Jong-Wha Lee, 1993. "International Comparisons of Educational Attainment," NBER Working Papers 4349, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  11. Costas Azariadis, 1996. "The Economics of Poverty Traps Part One: Complete Markets," Working Papers 9606, Centro de Investigacion Economica, ITAM.
  12. Azariadis, Costas & Drazen, Allan, 1990. "Threshold Externalities in Economic Development," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 105(2), pages 501-26, May.
  13. Saqib Jafarey & Sajal Lahiri, 2001. "Child Labour," World Economics, World Economics, Economic & Financial Publishing, PO Box 69, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, RG9 1GB, vol. 2(1), pages 69-93, January.
  14. Martin Shubik, 2001. "On Understanding Money," World Economics, World Economics, Economic & Financial Publishing, PO Box 69, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, RG9 1GB, vol. 2(1), pages 95-120, January.
  15. Jean-Marie Baland & James A. Robinson, 2000. "Is Child Labor Inefficient?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(4), pages 663-679, August.
  16. Dessy, Sylvain E., 2000. "A defense of compulsive measures against child labor," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 261-275, June.
  17. Kyriacou, George A., 1991. "Level and Growth Effects of Human Capital: A Cross-Country Study of the Convergence Hypothesis," Working Papers 91-26, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
  18. Lucas, Robert Jr., 1988. "On the mechanics of economic development," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 3-42, July.
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Citations

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  1. Dirk Krueger & Jessica Tjornhom Donohue, 2007. "On The Distributional Consequences Of Child Labor Legislation," Working Papers id:975, eSocialSciences.
  2. Basab Dasgupta, 2005. "Liquidity Constraint and Child Labor In India: Is Market Really Incapable Of Eradicating It From Wage-Labor Households?," Working papers 2005-37, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
  3. Sylvain Dessy & Stephane Pallage, 2001. "Why Banning the Worst Forms of Child Labour Would Hurt Poor Countries," Cahiers de recherche CREFE / CREFE Working Papers 135, CREFE, Université du Québec à Montréal.
  4. Matthias Doepke, . "Origins and Consequences of Child Labor Restrictions: A Macroeconomic Perspective," UCLA Economics Online Papers 413, UCLA Department of Economics.

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