This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Revisiting the Link Between Poverty and Child Labor: The Ghanaian Experience

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Blunch, Niels-Hugo (Centre for Labour Market and Social Research, Aarhus School of Business)
Verner, Dorthe (Centre for Labour Market and Social Research, Aarhus School of Business)

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

The link between poverty and child labor has traditionally been regarded a well established fact. Recent research, however, has questioned the validity of this link, claiming that poverty is not a main determinant of child labor. Starting from a premise that child labor is necessarily harmful, we analyze the determinants of harmful child labor, viewed as child labor that directly conflicts with the human capital accumulation of the child in an attempt to identify the most vulnerable groups, thus possibly enabling appropriate actions to be taken by policy makers. We reinstate the positive relationship between poverty and child labor, a conjecture that has been questioned by recent litterature. Further, we find evidence of a gender gap in child labor linked to poverty, since girls as a group as well as across urban, rural and poverty sub-samples consistently are found to be more likely to engage in harmful child labor than boys. The established gender gap need not necessarily imply discrimination but rather reflect cultural norms. A further exploration of this issue seems to be a potentially fruitful avenue for further research. The last main finding is that there exist structural differences in the processes underlying harmful child labor in Ghana across gender, across rural/urban location as well as across poverty quintiles of households

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.cls.dk/workingpapers/docfiles/86.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function:
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Centre for Labour Market and Social Research in its series CLS Working Papers with number 01-3.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 21 pages
Date of creation: 01 Apr 2001
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:hhs:aarcls:2001_003

Contact details of provider:
Postal: The Aarhus School of Business, Prismet, Silkeborgvej 2, DK 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Phone: +45 89 48 66 88
Fax: + 45 86 15 01 88
Web page: http://www.cls.dk
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Helle Vinbaek Stenholt).

Related research
Keywords: Africa; Ghana; Child labor; Human capital accumulation; Poverty;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
O15 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
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. Basu, Kaushik & Van, Pham Hoang, 1998. "The Economics of Child Labor," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 412-27, June.
  2. Easterly, William & Levine, Ross, 1997. "Africa's Growth Tragedy: Policies and Ethnic Divisions," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 112(4), pages 1203-50, November.
    Other versions:
  3. Nielsen, H.S., 1998. "Child Labor and School Attendance: Two Joint Decisions," Papers 98-15, Centre for Labour Market and Social Research, Danmark-.
  4. Canagarajah, Sudharshan & Coulombe, Harold, 1997. "Child labor and schooling in Ghana," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1844, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  5. Lavy, Victor, 1996. "School supply constraints and children's educational outcomes in rural Ghana," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 291-314, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Grootaert, Christiaan & Kanbur, Ravi, 1995. "Child labor : a review," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1454, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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. Bernhard Ganglmair, 2005. "Intrinsic Competition and the Labor-Schooling Trade-off in Uganda Competition in Child Labor and Schooling Decision Making in Uganda. Evidence from a Bivariate Probit Model," Labor and Demography 0504002, EconWPA, revised 21 Sep 2005. [Downloadable!]
  2. Uma S. Kambhampati & Raji Rajan, 2004. "The 'Nowhere' Children: Patriarchy and the Role of Girls in India's Rural Economy," Economics & Management Discussion Papers em-dp2004-21, Henley Business School, Reading University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Rana Ejaz Ali Khan & Karamat Ali, 2005. "Economically Active Children and Home-care Children: How Much They Differ," Labor and Demography 0510013, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
  4. Khanam, Rasheda, 2006. "Child labour and school attendance: evidence from Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 6990, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2007. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  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. Satya Das & Rajat Deb, 2006. "A Dynamic Analysis of Child Labor with a Variable Rate of Discount: Some Policy Implications," Contributions to Economic Analysis & Policy, Berkeley Electronic Press, vol. 5(1), pages 1562-1562. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Jean-Pierre Lachaud, 2004. "Le travail des enfants et la pauvreté en Afrique : un réexamen appliqué au Burkina Faso," Documents de travail 96, Groupe d'Economie du Développement de l'Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV. [Downloadable!]
  8. Satya P. Das & Rajat Deb, 2003. "Policies to combat child labor: A dynamic analysis," Indian Statistical Institute, Planning Unit, New Delhi Discussion Papers 04-01, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi, India. [Downloadable!]
  9. Nkamleu, Guy Blaise, 2006. "Poverty and Child Farm Labor in Africa: Wealth Paradox or bad Orthodoxy," MPRA Paper 15105, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  10. Drusilla K. Brown & Alan V. Deardorff & Robert M Stern, 2002. "The Effects of Multinational Production on Wages and Working Conditions in Developing Countries," Working Papers 486, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  11. Agus Priyambada & Asep Suryahadi & Sudarno Sumarto, 2002. "What Happened to Child Labor in Indonesia during the Economic Crisis? The Trade-off between School and Work," Labor Economics Working Papers 87, East Asian Bureau of Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  12. Daniela Zapata & Dante Contreras, 2004. "Child labor in Bolivia: schooling, gender and ethnic groups," Econometric Society 2004 Latin American Meetings 224, Econometric Society. [Downloadable!]
Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? Cannot find something on IDEAS? Encourage the publisher to index it! Instructions.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-4.


This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.