IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/rff/dpaper/edf-dp-14-16.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Child Labor, the Wealth Paradox, and Common Forest Management in Bolivia

Author

Listed:
  • Bluffstone, Randy

Abstract

That wealthier developing country households may rely more heavily on child labor than poorer households has come to be known as the “wealth paradox.†This paper tests for a wealth paradox with regard to common natural resource wealth by analyzing the relationship between child labor and improved common property forest management (CPFM) in Bolivia. Data are analyzed using several econometric methods and it is found that households experiencing more effective CPFM generally use more forest-based and total child labor. The analysis also confirms others’ findings of a private wealth paradox with regard to private land and extends the analysis to evaluate the effect of ownership of animals.Classification-JEL: Q23, Q56

Suggested Citation

  • Bluffstone, Randy, 2014. "Child Labor, the Wealth Paradox, and Common Forest Management in Bolivia," RFF Working Paper Series edf-dp-14-16, Resources for the Future.
    • Handle: RePEc:rff:dpaper:edf-dp-14-16
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.rff.org/RFF/documents/EfD-DP-14-16.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eric V. Edmonds, 2005. "Does Child Labor Decline with Improving Economic Status?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(1).
    2. Agrawal, Arun, 2001. "Common Property Institutions and Sustainable Governance of Resources," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(10), pages 1649-1672, October.
    3. Mani Nepal & Alok K. Bohara & Robert P. Berrens, 2007. "The Impacts of Social Networks and Household Forest Conservation Efforts in Rural Nepal," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 83(2), pages 174-191.
    4. Menale Kassie & John Pender & Mahmud Yesuf & Gunnar Kohlin & Randy Bluffstone & Elias Mulugeta, 2008. "Estimating returns to soil conservation adoption in the northern Ethiopian highlands," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 38(2), pages 213-232, March.
    5. Kaushik Basu, 1999. "Child Labor: Cause, Consequence, and Cure, with Remarks on International Labor Standards," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(3), pages 1083-1119, September.
    6. James J. Heckman, 2010. "Building Bridges between Structural and Program Evaluation Approaches to Evaluating Policy," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(2), pages 356-398, June.
    7. Martin Linde-Rahr, 2003. "Property Rights and Deforestation: The Choice of Fuelwood Source in Rural Viet Nam," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 79(2), pages 217-234.
    8. Weihua Guan, 2003. "From the help desk: Bootstrapped standard errors," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 3(1), pages 71-80, March.
    9. Sonia Bhalotra, 2007. "Is Child Work Necessary?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 69(1), pages 29-55, February.
    10. Basu, Kaushik & Das, Sanghamitra & Dutta, Bhaskar, 2010. "Child labor and household wealth: Theory and empirical evidence of an inverted-U," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 8-14, January.
    11. 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.
    12. Gunnar Köhlin & Gregory S. Amacher, 2005. "Welfare Implications of Community Forest Plantations in Developing Countries: The Orissa Social Forestry Project," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(4), pages 855-869.
    13. Christelle Dumas, 2007. "Why do parents make their children work? A test of the poverty hypothesis in rural areas of Burkina Faso," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 59(2), pages 301-329, April.
    14. Dayton-Johnson, Jeff, 2000. "Choosing rules to govern the commons: a model with evidence from Mexico," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 19-41, May.
    15. Cragg, John G, 1971. "Some Statistical Models for Limited Dependent Variables with Application to the Demand for Durable Goods," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 39(5), pages 829-844, September.
    16. Sethi, Rajiv & Somanathan, E, 1996. "The Evolution of Social Norms in Common Property Resource Use," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(4), pages 766-788, September.
    17. Heltberg, Rasmus, 2001. "Determinants and impact of local institutions for common resource management," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(2), pages 183-208, May.
    18. Cooke, Priscilla A, 1998. "Intrahousehold Labor Allocation Responses to Environmental Good Scarcity: A Case Study from the Hills of Nepal," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(4), pages 807-830, July.
    19. John Cockburn & Benoit Dostie, 2007. "Child Work and Schooling: The Role of Household Asset Profiles and Poverty in Rural Ethiopia," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 16(4), pages 519-563, August.
    20. Cameron,A. Colin & Trivedi,Pravin K., 2005. "Microeconometrics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521848053.
    21. Bluffstone, Randall & Boscolo, Marco & Molina, Ramiro, 2008. "Does better common property forest management promote behavioral change? On-farm tree planting in the Bolivian Andes1," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(2), pages 137-170, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mekonnen, Alemu & Bluffstone, Ramdall, 2008. "Is There a Link between Common Property Forest Management and Private Tree Growing? Evidence of Behavioral Effects from Highland Ethiopia," RFF Working Paper Series dp-08-29-efd, Resources for the Future.
    2. Oryoie, Ali Reza & Alwang, Jeffrey & Tideman, Nicolaus, 2017. "Child Labor and Household Land Holding: Theory and Empirical Evidence from Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 45-58.
    3. Congdon Fors, Heather, 2024. "Child Labour Background, Challenges, and the Role of Research in Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 8.7," Working Papers in Economics 840, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    4. Moussa Keita, 2014. "Pauvreté et arbitrage entre scolarisation et travail des enfants au Mali," Working Papers halshs-01064821, HAL.
    5. Heather Congdon Fors, 2012. "Child Labour: A Review Of Recent Theory And Evidence With Policy Implications," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 570-593, September.
    6. Lutfullah Lutf & Shahadat I Haq Yasini, 2018. "Factors Contributing to Child Labor in Afghanistan: A Case Study in Jalalabad City," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 3, pages 348-372, September.
    7. Francavilla, Francesca & Giannelli, Gianna Claudia & Grilli, Leonardo, 2013. "Mothers’ Employment and their Children’s Schooling: A Joint Multilevel Analysis for India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 183-195.
    8. Bluffstone, Randy & Robinson, Elizabeth & Guthiga, Paul, 2012. "Deforestation and forest degradation are estimated to account for between 12 percent and 20 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions. These activities, largely in the developing world, released abou," RFF Working Paper Series dp-12-11-efd, Resources for the Future.
    9. Bluffstone, Randy & Robinson, Elizabeth & Guthiga, Paul, 2013. "REDD+and community-controlled forests in low-income countries: Any hope for a linkage?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 43-52.
    10. Basu, Kaushik & Das, Sanghamitra & Dutta, Bhaskar, 2010. "Child labor and household wealth: Theory and empirical evidence of an inverted-U," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 8-14, January.
    11. Samia Badji, 2016. "The Wealth Paradox for Whom? Child Labor and the Identification of Households Excluded from the Land and the Labor Markets in Madagascar," Working Papers 1638, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.
    12. Menon, Nidhiya & Rodgers, Yana van der Meulen, 2018. "Child labor and the minimum wage: Evidence from India," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 480-494.
    13. Oryoie, Ali Reza & Alwang, Jeffrey & Tideman, Nicolaus, 2017. "Child Labor and Household Land Holding: Theory and Empirical Evidence from Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 45-58.
    14. Oded STARK & Wiktor BUDZINSKI, 2023. "The demand for gratitude as a restraint on the use of child labor: A hypothesis," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 89(1), pages 137-147, March.
    15. Kafle, Kashi & Jolliffe, Dean & Winter-Nelson, Alex, 2018. "Do different types of assets have differential effects on child education? Evidence from Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 14-28.
    16. Raymond Boadi Frempong & David Stadelmann, 2019. "The Effect of Food Price Changes on Child Labour: Evidence from Uganda," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(7), pages 1492-1507, July.
    17. Chiwaula, Levison/S, 2009. "Child labour and poverty linkages: A micro analysis from rural Malawian data," MPRA Paper 25915, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Oct 2009.
    18. Kozhaya, Mireille & Martínez Flores, Fernanda, 2020. "Child Education and Work: Evidence from Mexico's Full-Time School Program," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224567, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    19. Eric V. Edmonds & Norbert Schady, 2012. "Poverty Alleviation and Child Labor," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 100-124, November.
    20. Bang, James & Mitra, Aniruddha & Abbas, Faisal, 2023. "Remittances and Child Labor in Pakistan: A Tale of Complementarities," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1285, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    forests; common property; Bolivia; child labor;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q23 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Forestry
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:rff:dpaper:edf-dp-14-16. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Resources for the Future (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rffffus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.