IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/vic/vicddp/1402.html

Gender Bias and Child Labor in LDCs

Author

Abstract

Empirical evidence suggests that girls work more than boys as child labor. In this paper, we develop a model to analyze the causes and consequences of the gender differentials in child labor. In particular, we analyze the effects of gender bias on child labor. We find that when parents can give strictly positive bequests to both boys and girls, son preference on its own does not lead to gender differential in child labor. Only when parents cannot give bequests, girls work more than boys as child labor. On the other hand, if there are gender differences in earnings functions, then children with superior earnings function work less than children with inferior earnings function. Our analysis shows that not only the existence of gender bias, but also its form is important for gender differentials in child labor.

Suggested Citation

  • Alok Kumar & Emma Underhill, 2014. "Gender Bias and Child Labor in LDCs," Department Discussion Papers 1402, Department of Economics, University of Victoria.
    • Handle: RePEc:vic:vicddp:1402
    Note: ISSN 1914-2838
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.uvic.ca/socialsciences/economics/_assets/docs/discussion/ddp1402.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Yoram Ben-Porath & Finis Welch, 1976. "Do Sex Preferences Really Matter?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 90(2), pages 285-307.
    3. Horowitz, Andrew W. & Wang, Jian, 2004. "Favorite son? Specialized child laborers and students in poor LDC households," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 631-642, April.
    4. 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.
    5. Lloyd, Cynthia B & Mete, Cem & Sathar, Zeba A, 2005. "The Effect of Gender Differences in Primary School Access, Type, and Quality on the Decision to Enroll in Rural Pakistan," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(3), pages 685-710, April.
    6. Behrman, Jere R, 1988. "Intrahousehold Allocation of Nutrients in Rural India: Are Boys Favored? Do Parents Exhibit Inequality Aversion?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 40(1), pages 32-54, March.
    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. Kumar, Alok, 2013. "Preference based vs. market based discrimination: Implications for gender differentials in child labor and schooling," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 64-68.
    2. Patrick M. Emerson & André Portela Souza, 2011. "Is Child Labor Harmful? The Impact of Working Earlier in Life on Adult Earnings," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(2), pages 345-385.
    3. Krisztina Kis-Katos, 2012. "Gender differences in work-schooling decisions in rural North India," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 491-519, December.
    4. Mazzutti, Caio Cícero Toledo Piza da Costa, . "Three essays on the causal impacts of child labour laws in Brazil," Economics PhD Theses, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School, number 0616, December.
    5. Sonja Fagernäs, 2011. "Protection through Proof of Age. Birth Registration and Child Labor in Early 20th Century USA," Working Paper Series 2311, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    6. Kaushik Basu & Homa Zarghamee, 2008. "Product boycott a good idea for controlling child labor? A theoretical investigation," Discussion Papers 08-09, Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi.
    7. Matthias Doepke, "undated". "Origins and Consequences of Child Labor Restrictions: A Macroeconomic Perspective," UCLA Economics Online Papers 413, UCLA Department of Economics.
    8. Patrick M. Emerson & Vladimir Ponczek & André Portela Souza, 2017. "Child Labor and Learning," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(2), pages 265-296.
    9. Yamamura, Eiji, 2013. "Effects of sex preference and social pressure on fertility in changing Japanese families," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 97-104.
    10. Basu, Kaushik & Zarghamee, Homa, 2005. "Is Product Boycott a Good Idea for Controlling Child Labor?," Working Papers 05-14, Cornell University, Center for Analytic Economics.
    11. Armand Arief Sim & Daniel Suryadarma & Asep Suryahadi, "undated". "Konsekuensi Anak yang Bekerja terhadap Pertumbuhan Modal Manusia," Working Papers 3763, Communications Section.
    12. Caio Piza & André Portela Souza & Patrick M Emerson & Vivian Amorim, 2024. "The Short- and Longer-Term Effects of a Child Labor Ban," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 38(2), pages 351-370.
    13. Jinnat Ara & Dipanwita Sarkar & Jayanta Sarkar, 2021. "Like mother like daughter? Occupational mobility among children under asset transfer program in Bangladesh," QuBE Working Papers 061, QUT Business School.
    14. Alvi, Eskander & Dendir, Seife, 2011. "Weathering the Storms: Credit Receipt and Child Labor in the Aftermath of the Great Floods (1998) in Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1398-1409, August.
    15. Sylvain E. Dessy & Flaubert Mbiekop & Stéphane Pallage, 2005. "The Economics of Child Trafficking (Part II)," Cahiers de recherche 0509, CIRPEE.
    16. Andrew W. Horowitz & Jungmin Lee & Julie R. Trivitt, 2009. "Household-Level Education Borrowing Constraints: Evidence Using the College Attendance of the Sisters of Vietnam Draft Avoiders," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(3), pages 197-223.
    17. Gianni Toniolo & Giovanni Vecchi, 2007. "Italian Children at Work, 1881-1961," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 66(3), pages 401-427, November.
    18. Fioroni, Tamara, 2014. "Health and Child Labour," MPRA Paper 58789, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Kozhaya, Mireille & Martínez Flores, Fernanda, 2022. "Child Labor Bans, Employment, and School Attendance: Evidence from Changes in the Minimum Working Age," IZA Discussion Papers 15144, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Valentina Rotondi & Francesco C. Billari, 2022. "Mobile Money and School Participation: Evidence from Africa," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(1), pages 343-362, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • D60 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - General

    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:vic:vicddp:1402. 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: Kali Moon (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/devicca.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.