IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tuf/tuftec/0111.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Child Labor: Theory, Evidence and Policy

Author

Listed:
  • Drusilla K. Brown
  • Alan V. Deardorff
  • Robert M. Stern

Abstract

There is a growing theoretical and empirical literature concerning the causes and consequences of child labor. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the policy initiatives targeted on child labor in light of the newly emerging theoretical argumentation and empirical evidence. We focus in particular on programs to address child-labor practices, and we attempt to evaluate these programs, given the empirical evidence concerning the primary determinants of when and why children work. Throughout, we find it instructive to evaluate the policies that have been adopted with the intent of reducing overall child labor in terms of the impact they are likely have on the welfare of children.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Drusilla K. Brown & Alan V. Deardorff & Robert M. Stern, 2001. "Child Labor: Theory, Evidence and Policy," Discussion Papers Series, Department of Economics, Tufts University 0111, Department of Economics, Tufts University.
    • Handle: RePEc:tuf:tuftec:0111
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://ase.tufts.edu/econ/papers/200111.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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 319-332, January.
    2. Schultz, T. Paul, 2001. "School subsidies for the poor," FCND briefs 102, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Levy, Victor, 1985. "Cropping Pattern, Mechanization, Child Labor, and Fertility Behavior in a Farming Economy: Rural Egypt," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(4), pages 777-791, July.
    4. 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.
    5. Drusilla K. Brown & Alan V. Deardorff & Robert M. Stern, 2009. "U.S. Trade and Other Policy Options and Programs to Deter Foreign Exploitation of Child Labor," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Globalization And International Trade Policies, chapter 18, pages 689-743, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Canagarajah, Sudharshan & Coulombe, Harold, 1997. "Child labor and schooling in Ghana," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1844, The World Bank.
    7. Esther Duflo, 2001. "Schooling and Labor Market Consequences of School Construction in Indonesia: Evidence from an Unusual Policy Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 795-813, September.
    8. Gary S. Becker & H. Gregg Lewis, 1974. "Interaction between Quantity and Quality of Children," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 81-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Hanushek, E.A. & Lavy, V., 1995. "School Quality, Acheivement Bias, and Dropout Behavoiir in Egypt," Papers 107, World Bank - Living Standards Measurement.
    10. Jean Drèze & Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 2001. "School Participation in Rural India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(1), pages 1-24, February.
    11. Ranjan, Priya, 2001. "Credit constraints and the phenomenon of child labor," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 81-102, February.
    12. Colm Harmon; & Ian Walker, 1995. "Estimates of Economic Return to Schooling in the UK," Economics Department Working Paper Series n540195, Department of Economics, National University of Ireland - Maynooth.
    13. Jean-Marie Baland & James A. Robinson, 2000. "Is Child Labor Inefficient?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 108(4), pages 663-679, August.
    14. 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.
    15. Ranjan Ray, 2000. "Analysis of child labour in Peru and Pakistan: A comparative study," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 13(1), pages 3-19.
    16. Peter Jensen & Helena Skyt Nielsen, 1997. "Child labour or school attendance? Evidence from Zambia," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 10(4), pages 407-424.
    17. Psacharopoulos, George & Arriagada, Ana Maria, 1989. "The Determinants of Early Age Human Capital Formation: Evidence from Brazil," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(4), pages 683-708, July.
    18. George Psacharopoulos & Harry Anthony Patrinos, 1997. "Family size, schooling and child labor in Peru - An empirical analysis," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 10(4), pages 387-405.
    19. Parsons, Donald O & Goldin, Claudia, 1989. "Parental Altruism and Self-Interest: Child Labor among Late Nineteenth-Century American Families," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 27(4), pages 637-659, October.
    20. Carol Ann Rogers & Kenneth A. Swinnerton, 1999. "Inequality, Productivity, and Child Labor," Labor and Demography 9907003, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 30 Jul 1999.
    21. Hanushek, Eric A, 1992. "The Trade-Off between Child Quantity and Quality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(1), pages 84-117, February.
    22. Margo, Robert A. & Aldrich Finegan, T., 1996. "Compulsory schooling legislation and school attendance in turn-of-the century America: A 'natural experiment' approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 103-110, October.
    23. Canagarajah, Sudharshan & Nielsen, Helena Skyt, 1999. "Child labor and schooling in Africa : a comparative study," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 20456, The World Bank.
    24. Brown, Martin & Christiansen, Jens & Philips, Peter, 1992. "The Decline of Child Labor in the U.S. Fruit and Vegetable Canning Industry: Law or Economics?," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(4), pages 723-770, January.
    25. Jai S. Mah, 1997. "Core Labour Standards and Export Performance in Developing Countries," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(6), pages 773-785, September.
    26. Basu, Kaushik & Van, Pham Hoang, 1998. "The Economics of Child Labor," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 412-427, June.
    27. Kaushik Basu, 1999. "International Labor Standards and Child Labor," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(5), pages 80-93, September.
    28. Strauss, John & Thomas, Duncan, 1995. "Human resources: Empirical modeling of household and family decisions," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 34, pages 1883-2023, Elsevier.
    29. Joshua D. Angrist & Alan B. Keueger, 1991. "Does Compulsory School Attendance Affect Schooling and Earnings?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(4), pages 979-1014.
    30. Ravallion, Martin & Wodon, Quentin, 2000. "Does Child Labour Displace Schooling? Evidence on Behavioural Responses to an Enrollment Subsidy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(462), pages 158-175, March.
    31. Blomstrom, Magnus & Goldberg, Linda S. (ed.), 2001. "Topics in Empirical International Economics," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226060835.
    32. Moehling, Carolyn M., 1999. "State Child Labor Laws and the Decline of Child Labor," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 72-106, January.
    33. George Psacharopoulos, 1997. "Child labor versus educational attainment Some evidence from Latin America," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 10(4), pages 377-386.
    34. Strauss, J. & Thomas, D., 1995. "Empirical Modeling of Household and Family Decisions," Papers 95-12, RAND - Reprint Series.
    35. Nielsen, H.S., 1998. "Child Labor and School Attendance: Two Joint Decisions," Papers 98-15, Centre for Labour Market and Social Research, Danmark-.
    36. Paul Glewwe & Hanan Jacoby, 1994. "Student Achievement and Schooling Choice in Low-Income Countries: Evidence from Ghana," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 29(3), pages 843-864.
    37. Harmon, Harmon & Ian Walker, 1995. "Estimates of the economic return to schooling for the UK," IFS Working Papers W95/12, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    38. Maskus, Keith E., 1997. "Should core labor standards be imposed through international trade policy?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1817, The World Bank.
    39. Carol Rogers & Kenneth A. Swinnerton, 2001. "Inequality, Productivity, and Child Labor: Theory and Evidence," Working Papers gueconwpa~01-01-10, Georgetown University, Department of Economics.
    40. Daron Acemoglu & Joshua Angrist, 1999. "How Large are the Social Returns to Education? Evidence from Compulsory Schooling Laws," NBER Working Papers 7444, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Drusilla K. Brown & Alan V. Deardorff & Robert M. Stern, 2009. "The Effects of Multinational Production on Wages and Working Conditions in Developing Countries," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Globalization And International Trade Policies, chapter 17, pages 623-687, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Edmonds, Eric V., 2008. "Child Labor," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 57, pages 3607-3709, Elsevier.
    3. 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.
    4. Eric V. Edmonds, 2005. "Does Child Labor Decline with Improving Economic Status?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(1).
    5. Jean-Pierre Lachaud, 2008. "Le travail des enfants et la pauvreté en Afrique : un réexamen appliqué au Burkina Faso," Economie & Prévision, La Documentation Française, vol. 0(5), pages 47-65.
    6. G. Bellettini & C. Berti Ceroni, 2000. "Compulsory schooling laws and the cure against child labor," Working Papers 394, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    7. 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.
    8. Jackline Wahba, 2001. "Child Labor and Poverty Transmission: No Room For Dreams," Working Papers 0108, Economic Research Forum, revised 03 2001.
    9. 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.
    10. Matthias Doepke & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2003. "Voting with Your Children: A Positive Analysis of Child Labor Laws," UCLA Economics Working Papers 828, UCLA Department of Economics.
    11. 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.
    12. 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.
    13. Holger Strulik, 2013. "School Attendance And Child Labor—A Model Of Collective Behavior," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 246-277, April.
    14. Drusilla K. Brown, 2001. "Labor Standards: Where Do They Belong on the International Trade Agenda?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 89-112, Summer.
    15. Pushkar Maitra & Ranjan Ray, 2002. "The Joint Estimation of Child Participation in Schooling and Employment: Comparative Evidence from Three Continents," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(1), pages 41-62.
    16. Eric V. Edmonds & Nina Pavcnik, 2005. "Child Labor in the Global Economy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 199-220, Winter.
    17. Ersado, Lire, 2005. "Child Labor and Schooling Decisions in Urban and Rural Areas: Comparative Evidence from Nepal, Peru, and Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 455-480, March.
    18. Ersado, Lire, 2003. "Child Labor And Schooling Decisions In Urban And Rural Areas: Cross-Country Evidence," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 21924, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    19. Nadeem Ilahi & Peter F. Orazem & Guilherme Sedlacek, 2009. "How Does Working as a Child Affect Wages, Income, and Poverty as an Adult?," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Peter F. Orazem & Guilherme Sedlacek & Zafiris Tzannatos (ed.), Child Labor and Education in Latin America, chapter 5, pages 87-101, Palgrave Macmillan.
    20. Chaudhuri, Sanjukta, 2009. "The School Going Child Worker: An Analysis of Poverty, Asset Inequality and Child Education in Rural India," MPRA Paper 19687, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J2 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor
    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations

    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:tuf:tuftec:0111. 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: Marcus Weir (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://ase.tufts.edu/economics .

    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.