Factors affecting children's participation and amount of labor on family farms

Abstract

Method: A two-stage decision-making model is estimated to explain children's participation and labor supply on family farms using unitary and cooperative bargaining frameworks. Results: Results indicate that parents have different preferences about whether their children work and how much they work. The models incorporate non-economic factors and allow for different stochastic processes in the participation and labor supply decisions. Conclusions: Concerns about children's social development appear to be crucial in deciding children's labor participation, while the child's economic contribution significantly influences both whether they work and how much they work. Some variables affect the two decisions differently. For instance, the higher the parents' education level, the higher the probability children will work but the fewer hours they will work.