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Is Child Work Necessary?

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Author Info
Sonia Bhalotra (University of Cambridge)

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Abstract

This paper investigates whether the income from child wage work is necessary to the survival of rural households in Pakistan. It is by no means obvious that it is. For instance, children may work because the returns to work exceed the returns to school, or because parents are selfish or short-sighted. It is argued here that, if child work is necessary, then the income effect of a wage change will dominate the substitution effect and the labour supply curve will be "forward falling" or negatively sloped at low wages. Existing studies have concentrated on the income elasticity, but this tells us nothing other than that leisure is a normal good. Studying the wage elasticity, however, permits us to infer from behavioural responses whether or not a household is at a subsistence level of income. Structural labour supply models for boys and girls are estimated, conditioning on full income and a range of demographic variables. We cannot reject the hypothesis that child work is necessary in the first quartile of the expenditure distribution. This suggests that trade sanctions or bans on child labour may be undesirable in the short run unless households are compensated for the loss in income. On the other hand, policies targeted at alleviating poverty or liquidity constraints are likely to reduce the prevalence of child work.

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Paper provided by Econometric Society in its series Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers with number 0500.

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Date of creation: 01 Aug 2000
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Handle: RePEc:ecm:wc2000:0500

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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Wahba, J., . "The Influence of Market Wages and Parental History on Child Labour and Schooling in Egypt," Discussion Paper Series In Economics And Econometrics 0603, Economics Division, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton. [Downloadable!]
  2. Pushkar Maitra & Ranjan Ray, 2000. "The Joint Estimation of Child Participation in Schooling and Employment: Comparative Evidence from Three Continents," ASARC Working Papers 2000-04, Australian National University, Australia South Asia Research Centre. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Boockmann, Bernhard, 2004. "The Effect of ILO Minimum Age Conventions on Child Labour and School Attendance," ZEW Discussion Papers 04-52, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  4. Sarbajit Chaudhuri, 2005. "Incidence Of Child Labour, Free Education Policy And Economic Liberalization In A Developing Economy," Labor and Demography 0511010, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Ana C. Dammert, 2007. "Child Labor and Schooling Response to Changes in Coca Production in Rural Peru," IZA Discussion Papers 2869, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. François Bourguignon & Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Phillippe G. Leite, 2002. "Ex-ante Evaluation of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs: The Case of Bolsa Escola," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 516, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross Business School. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Sonia R Bhalotra & Chris Heady, 2000. "Child Farm Labour: Theory and Evidence," STICERD - Development Economics Papers 24, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  8. Aldaba, Fernando T. & Lanzona, Leonardo & Tamangan, Ronald J., 2004. "A National Policy Study on Child Labour and Development in the Philippines," Discussion Papers DP 2004-15, Philippine Institute for Development Studies. [Downloadable!]
  9. Sonia Bhalotra, 2007. "Fatal Fluctuations? - Cyclicality in Infant Mortality in India," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 07/181, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Strulik, Holger, 2008. "The Role of Poverty and Community Norms in Child Labor and Schooling Decisions," Diskussionspapiere der Wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Hannover dp-383, Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät. [Downloadable!]
  11. Sarbajit Chaudhuri & Manash Ranjan Gupta, 2005. "Child Labour And Trade Liberalization In A Developing Economy," Labor and Demography 0510017, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  12. Geoffrey Lancaster & Ranjan Ray, 2004. "Does Child Labour Affect School Attendance and School Performance?Multi Country Evidence on SIMPOC data," Econometric Society 2004 Australasian Meetings 68, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
  13. Jackline Wahba, 2005. "The Influence of Market Wages and Parental History on Child Labour and Schooling in Egypt," IZA Discussion Papers 1771, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  14. Benoit Dostie & Désiré Vencatachellum, 2004. "Compulsory and Voluntary Remittances: Evidence from Child Domestic Workers in Tunisia," Cahiers de recherche 04-04, HEC Montréal, Institut d'économie appliquée. [Downloadable!]
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