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Income Contributions of Child Work in Rural Ethiopia

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Author Info
John Cockburn

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Abstract

The income contribution of child work is undoubtedly a key factor influencing child work and schooling decisions. Yet, few studies have attempted to directly measure this contribution. This is particularly the case for work performed on the household farm, as is the case for the vast majority of child workers, rather than for wages. In this study, we estimate a household income function with child labour included as an input. Results using a variety of functional forms and alternative child labour variables are compared. We conclude that children and adults are perfect labour substitutes and that the marginal productivity of children is roughly one-third to one-half that of male adults. The average contribution of each working child is estimated at 4 to 7% of household income, although there is substantial variation with contributions ranging up to 50%. These results underline the dependency of poor households on child work for survival.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Development and Comp Systems with number 0409016.

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Length: 68 pages
Date of creation: 15 Sep 2004
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Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpdc:0409016

Note: Type of Document - pdf; pages: 68
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Web page: http://129.3.20.41

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Related research
Keywords: child labour; schooling; Ethiopia; household production;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
O15 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

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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.:
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  2. MaCurdy, Thomas E & Pencavel, John H, 1986. "Testing between Competing Models of Wage and Employment Determination in Unionized Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages S3-S39, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Magnac, T. & Lambert, S., 1992. "Recursive or Non Recursive Agricultural Household Decision Making; An Application to Cote d'Ivoire," DELTA Working Papers 92-20, DELTA (Ecole normale supérieure).
  4. Basu, Kaushik & Van, Pham Hoang, 1998. "The Economics of Child Labor," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 412-27, June.
  5. Gronau, Reuben, 1997. "The Theory of Home Production: The Past Ten Years," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(2), pages 197-205, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Reuben Gronau & R. Layard, . "Home Production - A Survey," University of Chicago - Population Research Center 85-2, Chicago - Population Research Center.
  7. Canagarajah, Sudharshan & Coulombe, Harold, 1997. "Child labor and schooling in Ghana," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1844, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  8. Hoddinott, John, 1992. "Rotten Kids or Manipulative Parents: Are Children Old Age Security in Western Kenya?," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(3), pages 545-65, April.
  9. Sonia Bhalotra, 2003. "Child Labour in Africa," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 4, OECD, Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs. [Downloadable!]
  10. Jacoby, Hanan G, 1993. "Shadow Wages and Peasant Family Labour Supply: An Econometric Application to the Peruvian Sierra," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 60(4), pages 903-21, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. De Vos, Susan, 1985. "An Old-Age Security Incentive for Children in the Philippines and Taiwan," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(4), pages 793-814, July.
  12. Croppenstedt, Andre & Muller, Christophe, 2000. "The Impact of Farmers' Health and Nutritional Status on Their Productivity and Efficiency: Evidence from Ethiopia," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(3), pages 475-502, April.
  13. Christopher B. Barrett & Shane M. Sherlund & Akinwumi A. Adesina, 2008. "Shadow wages, allocative inefficiency, and labor supply in smallholder agriculture," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 38(1), pages 21-34, 01. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Weir, S. & Knight, J., 2000. "Education Externalities in Rural Ethiopia: Evidence from Average and Stochastic Frontier Production Functions," Working Papers Series 2000-4, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
  15. Udry, Christopher, 1996. "Gender, Agricultural Production, and the Theory of the Household," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(5), pages 1010-46, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. John Bound & David A. Jaeger & Regina Baker, 1993. "The Cure Can Be Worse than the Disease: A Cautionary Tale Regarding Instrumental Variables," NBER Technical Working Papers 0137, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Rosenzweig, Mark R & Evenson, Robert E, 1977. "Fertility, Schooling, and the Economic Contribution of Children in Rural India: An Econometric Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 45(5), pages 1065-79, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Mueller, Eva, 1984. "The value and allocation of time in rural Botswana," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1-3), pages 329-360. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Jacoby, Hanan G., 1991. "Productivity of men and women and the sexual division of labor in peasant agriculture of the Peruvian Sierra," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1-2), pages 265-287, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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. L.Guarcello & S.Lyon & F.Rosati, 2006. "The Twin Challenges of Child labour and Youth Employment in Ethiopia," UCW Working Paper 18, Understanding Children's Work (UCW Project). [Downloadable!]
  2. Lei Pan, 2007. "Risk Pooling through Transfers in Rural Ethiopia," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 07-014/2, Tinbergen Institute, revised 28 Sep 2007. [Downloadable!]
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