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Child Labor and Fertility

Author

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  • Ramona Schrepler

    (South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University)

Abstract

This essay analyzes the economic causes and effects of household decisions concerning fertility, education and child labor when children can supplement family income early in life and must support their parents in old age as adults. Parents, who raise and educate children for both financial and altruistic reasons, will typically choose a too little schooling for the economy to grow when all are poor. High child- raising costs or an educational process which is not sufficiently productive are the main reasons for the existence of a poverty trap with a high population growth rate and little or no schooling. Interventions such as taxes and subsidies can lead to sustained long-term economic growth, with fulltime schooling and a low population growth rate, even without outside aid, if the child-raising costs are not too high and the educational process is at least moderately productive.

Suggested Citation

  • Ramona Schrepler, 2003. "Child Labor and Fertility," HEW 0310001, EconWPA, revised 26 Feb 2004.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwphe:0310001
    Note: Type of Document - pdf; prepared on WinXP; to print on A4 paper; pages: 42; figures: 6
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    File URL: http://econwpa.repec.org/eps/hew/papers/0310/0310001.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    3. 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.
    4. Dessy, Sylvain E., 2000. "A defense of compulsive measures against child labor," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 261-275, June.
    5. Bell, Clive & Gersbach, Hans, 2009. "Child Labor And The Education Of A Society," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(02), pages 220-249, April.
    6. Moshe Hazan & Binyamin Berdugo, 2002. "Child Labour, Fertility, and Economic Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(482), pages 810-828, October.
    7. Basu, Kaushik & Van, Pham Hoang, 1998. "The Economics of Child Labor," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(3), pages 412-427, June.
    8. Ranjan, Priya, 1999. "An economic analysis of child labor," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 64(1), pages 99-105, July.
    9. Carol Ann Rogers & Kenneth A. Swinnerton, 1999. "The Economics of Child Labor: Comment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1382-1385, December.
    10. Clive Bell & Shantayanan Devarajan & Hans Gersbach, 2006. "The Long-Run Economic Costs of aids: A Model with an Application to South Africa," World Bank Economic Review, World Bank Group, vol. 20(1), pages 55-89.
    11. Raut, L K & Srinivasan, T N, 1994. "Dynamics of Endogenous Growth," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 4(5), pages 777-790, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bell, Clive & Gersbach, Hans, 2009. "The macroeconomics of targeting: the case of an enduring epidemic," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 54-72, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Child Labor; Fertility; Growth; OLG;

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education

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