Child Labor and Household Wealth: Theory and Empirical Evidence of an Inverted-U

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Child Labor and Household Wealth: Theory and Empirical Evidence of an Inverted-U

Author Info

Kaushik Basu () (Cornell University, Indian Statistical Institute and IZA)
Sanghamitra Das () (Indian Statistical Institute)
Bhaskar Dutta () (Warwick University)

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Abstract

Some studies on child labor have shown that greater land wealth leads to higher child labor, thereby casting doubt on the hypothesis that child labor is caused by poverty. This paper argues that the missing ingredient is an explicit modeling of the labor market. We develop a simple model which suggests an inverted-U relationship between land holdings and child labor. A unique data set from India that has child labor hours information confirms this hypothesis. It is shown that the turning point beyond which more land leads to a decline in child labor occurs at 3.6 acres of land per household, which is well below the observed maximum value of land-holding.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 2736.

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Length: 22 pages
Date of creation: Apr 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2736

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Paper
- Basu, Kaushik & Das, Sanghamitra & Dutta, Bhaskar, 2009. "Child Labor and Household Wealth : Theory and Empirical Evidence of an Inverted-U," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 888, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
- Basu, Kaushik & Das, Sanghamitra & Dutta, Bhaskar, 2007. "Child Labor and Household Wealth: Theory and Empirical Evidence of an Inverted-U," Working Papers 07-02, Cornell University, Center for Analytic Economics. [Downloadable!]
- Kaushik Basu & Sanghamitra Das & Bhaskar Dutta, 2007. "Child labor and household wealth: Theory and empirical evidence of an inverted-U," Indian Statistical Institute, Planning Unit, New Delhi Discussion Papers 07-01, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi, India. [Downloadable!]

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
O12 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

NEP-ALL-2007-04-21 (All new papers)
NEP-DEV-2007-04-21 (Development)

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.:

Chernichovsky, Dov, 1985. "Socioeconomic and Demographic Aspects of School Enrollment and Attendance in Rural Botswana," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(2), pages 319-32, January.
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Other versions:
- 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!]
Emerson, Patrick M & Souza, Andre Portela, 2003. "Is There a Child Labor Trap? Intergenerational Persistence of Child Labor in Brazil," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(2), pages 375-98, January.
Other versions:
- Patrick M. Emerson & Andre Portela Souza, 2002. "Is There a Child Labor Trap? Inter-Generational Persistence of Child Labor in Brazil," Working Papers 0214, Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University. [Downloadable!]
- Emerson, Patrick M & Souza, Andre Portela, 2003. "Is There a Child Labor Trap? Intergenerational Persistence of Child Labor in Brazil," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(2), pages 375-98, January.
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Other versions:
- Kaushik Basu & Zafiris Tzannatos, 2003. "The Global Child Labor Problem: What Do We Know and What Can We Do?," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(2), pages 147-173, December.
Eric V. Edmonds, 2007. "Child Labor," IZA Discussion Papers 2606, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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- Eric V. Edmonds, 2007. "Child Labor," NBER Working Papers 12926, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Matthias Doepke & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2005. "The macroeconomics of child labor regulation," Staff Report 354, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
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Sonia Bhalotra & Christopher Heady, 2003. "Child Farm Labor: The Wealth Paradox," Bristol Economics Discussion Papers 03/553, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK. [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
- Sonia Bhalotra & Christopher Heady, 2003. "Child Farm Labor: The Wealth Paradox," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 17(2), pages 197-227, December.
Ray, Ranjan, 2000. "Child Labor, Child Schooling, and Their Interaction with Adult Labor: Empirical Evidence for Peru and Pakistan," World Bank Economic Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(2), pages 347-67, May. [Downloadable!]
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Other versions:
- Baland, J.M. & Robinson, J.A., 1998. "A Model of Child Labor," Papers 9803, Southern California - Department of Economics.

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.)

Edmonds, Eric V. & Schady, Norbert, 2008. "Poverty alleviation and child labor," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4702, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
- Eric V. Edmonds & Norbert Schady, 2009. "Poverty Alleviation and Child Labor," NBER Working Papers 15345, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Francesca Francavilla & Gianna Claudia Giannelli, 2007. "The Relation between Child Labour and Mothers’ Work: The Case of India," IZA Discussion Papers 3099, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
- Gianna Claudia Giannelli & Francesca Francavilla, 2007. "The Relation between Child Labour and Mothers’ Work: The Case of India," CHILD Working Papers wp22_07, CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics - ITALY. [Downloadable!]
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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This page was last updated on 2009-11-16.

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