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Family Social Norms and Child Labor

Author

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  • Herz, Shirit Katav

    (Academic College of Tel-Aviv Yaffo)

  • Epstein, Gil S.

    (Bar-Ilan University)

Abstract

Child labor is a widespread phenomenon and therefore is of interest to both researchers and policy makers. Various reasons for the existence of child labor have been proposed with the goal of designing appropriate solutions. While household poverty is viewed as the main reason for child labor, we choose to focus on the phenomenon that parents who worked during own childhood are more likely to send their children to work. We also look at the effect of social norms on the parents' child labor decision and analyze both these effects on the supply of labor and equilibrium in the labor market. Finally, we suggest an explanation for the phenomenon of poor societies with similar income levels that differ significantly in literacy rates and propose policy improvements.

Suggested Citation

  • Herz, Shirit Katav & Epstein, Gil S., 2021. "Family Social Norms and Child Labor," IZA Discussion Papers 14937, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14937
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sonia Bhalotra & Christopher Heady, 2003. "Child Farm Labor: The Wealth Paradox," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 197-227, December.
    2. Ralitza Dimova & Gil S. Epstein & Ira N. Gang, 2015. "Migration, Transfers and Child Labor," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 735-747, August.
    3. Basu, Kaushik & Van, Pham Hoang, 1998. "The Economics of Child Labor," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 412-427, June.
    4. Alberto Bisin & Thierry Verdier, 2000. ""Beyond the Melting Pot": Cultural Transmission, Marriage, and the Evolution of Ethnic and Religious Traits," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 955-988.
    5. Jackline Wahba, 2006. "The influence of market wages and parental history on child labour and schooling in Egypt," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 19(4), pages 823-852, October.
    6. Gil Epstein, 2007. "Extremism within the family," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 20(3), pages 707-715, July.
    7. Canagarajah, Sudharshan & Coulombe, Harold, 1997. "Child labor and schooling in Ghana," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1844, The World Bank.
    8. Alex Bell & Raj Chetty & Xavier Jaravel & Neviana Petkova & John Van Reenen, 2019. "Who Becomes an Inventor in America? The Importance of Exposure to Innovation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(2), pages 647-713.
    9. Wahba, J., 2006. "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.
    10. Wahba, J., 2006. "The influence of market wages and parental history on child labour and schooling in Egypt," Discussion Paper Series In Economics And Econometrics 603, Economics Division, School of Social Sciences, University of Southampton.
    11. Epstein, Gil S. & Kahana, Nava, 2008. "Child labor and temporary emigration," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 99(3), pages 545-548, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ronald Musizvingoza & Jonathan Blagbrough & Nicola Suyin Pocock, 2022. "Are Child Domestic Workers Worse Off than Their Peers? Comparing Children in Domestic Work, Child Marriage, and Kinship Care with Biological Children of Household Heads: Evidence from Zimbabwe," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-18, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    child labor; social norms; intergenerational transmission;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • D64 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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