Child Labor Supply Research Articles

The Effect of Sibship Size on Children’s Outcomes: Evidence from Vietnam

The child quality-quantity debate pays extensive attention to the effect of sibship size on education, but less is known about other outcomes of children such as health and labor. In this study, we estimate the effect of sibship size on various outcomes of children including disability, education and the labor supply of children in Vietnam. We do not find significant effects of sibship size on disability and working status of children. However, we find that having an additional sibling increases the risk of dropping out of school. More specifically, having an additional sibling reduces the probability of schooling of the first-born children by 1.6 percentage points in families with at least a child. This effect is increasing to around 3.0 percentage points in families with at least three children. The effect of sibship size on the number of completed grades is also higher and more significant in large families.

Spillover Effects of Tobacco Farms on the Labor Supply, Education, and Health of Children: Evidence from Malawi

AbstractUsing data from the Living Standards Measurement Study in Malawi, we examine the spillover effects of tobacco farms on children's labor supply, education, and health. To address potential endogeneity, the share of tobacco farms in a community is instrumented by the change in tobacco buyers following termination of the intermediate buyer system. We find that, as tobacco cultivation is labor‐intensive, children in communities with more tobacco growers spend more time as casual laborers and are less likely to advance to the next grade. Adverse health effects, measured by the likelihood of suffering from illnesses related to green tobacco sickness, are estimated to be larger than previously documented. This affects not only “working‐age” children but also children too young to work on tobacco farms. Moreover, exposure to large‐scale tobacco cultivation is estimated to reduce the height‐for‐age z‐score of children aged 6–60 months. These findings highlight the importance of raising awareness and taking measures to protect children against green tobacco.

Parents’ strategic transfers and sibling competition in the presence of pay-as-you-go pensions

In a non-cooperative Nash game in which children compete for their parents’ financial transfers, we demonstrate that if the children’s attention is sufficiently perceived by elderly parents as a merit good, then a payroll tax hike might increase children’s attention devoted to elderly parents, thereby reducing the labor supply of grown-up children and possibly reducing elderly pension benefits.

아동수당이 기혼여성 노동공급에 미치는 영향: 마이크로 시뮬레이션 활용

아동수당이 기혼여성 노동공급에 미치는 영향: 마이크로 시뮬레이션 활용

Child labor in Mali: a consequence of adults’ low returns to education?

ABSTRACTIn this paper, our main objective is to test the hypothesis that child labor can be a rational response to low returns to formal education in Mali. To this end, after a literature review, we build a flexible conceptual model that explicitly links the child labor supply to the comparison of the expected returns to education with child labor. The empirical analyses are performed using the Malian permanent household survey. Estimations suggest that when returns to education are high in local labor markets, or when parents earn more than expected relative to their education level, the probability of child labor falls.

Analysis of Effect of Agriculture Trade Liberalisation on Child Labour Supply, Factor Prices and Output Composition in a Small Open Perfectly Competitive Economy using a General Equilibrium Framework

Incidence of child labor is a disturbing feature of an emerging market economy. In the present paper, I would try to explore whether globalization policy namely agricultural trade liberalization has any negative impact on the incidence of child labor in a developing economy. For our work, I use a three-sector general equilibrium structure to highlight the linkage between different sectors and also focus on the fact that the effects of globalization are crucially dependent on the factor intensity ranking and factor specificity. Multiple cross effects that are present in a three-sector general equilibrium structure are the driving forces behind the results.

The Influence of Older Parents' Care-giving Activities on Labor Supply of Adult Children:A Study Based on CFPS

With the increasingly rise in the elderly population ratio and the gradually severe aging crisis in other countries, our society perceive unprecedented fear of the arrival of aging society. Although the elderly would increase family and society burdens in some respects, the above view may overlook the close social and economic linkage among family members between generations. Therefore, it may neglect or underestimate the social value of the Chinese elderly in providing family care activities and their impacts on the younger generation.According to the existing researches and data availability in CFPS database, we divide the older parents' care-giving activities into taking care of grandchildren and helping children with their housework. Also we divide the adult children's labor supply variable into labor participation and working hours. Then we try to analyze the impact of elderly parents' care-giving activities on their adult children's labor supply. What's more, we also take the differences between male and female, rural and urban residents into account, and get some interesting findings.Our results indicate that the elderly's taking care of their grandchildren can significantly improve their adult children's labor supply. For example, male labor participation rate increases by 6.3%, while women increase by 14.3%. Thus, its impact on women is much greater than men. Otherwise, the influence on rural and urban residents is also quite different; precisely the impact on rural residents' labor participation rate is greater than the urban ones, and the impact on the city residents' labor supply mainly reflects in the work time. Inequality in public services and the differences in employment ability between urban and rural residents are important reasons for the heterogeneity problem.The policy implication of this paper is that, in the context of rapid globalization and urbanization, the government should support and guide the construction of modern families that proceed from national conditions on the basis of maintaining the traditional excellent family ethics and culture. We should take advantage of fiscal and taxation policies to alleviate the economic pressure of childcare and elderly caring on adult children, gradually solve the increasingly serious gender discrimination in the employment market, and progressively eliminate the public service benefits inequality caused by the household registration system.In short, this paper mainly expands the existing research in the following three aspects. First, combining with the particularity of Chinese family culture, we try to explain the contradiction between the increase in the proportion of elderly population ratio and the high level of labor supply of adult children from the perspective of the elderly's role in taking care of grandchildren and helping children with their housework. Second, after fully considering the differences between families in the level of income, property, age, residence and family structure, we empirically analyzes the influence of older parents' care-giving activities on the labor supply of their adult children. Third, we try to solve the endogeneity by using instrumental variables, which would avoid the estimation errors effectively and thus make the estimation results more reliable because it effectively avoids the estimation errors.

Child labour and human capital in developing countries - A multi-period stochastic model

This study investigates the co-determination of child labour and human capital acquisition through a life cycle model. It explores three categories of households with zero, ten and fifteen years' education of household heads who also have differential access to financial markets. Results show that financially excluded, uneducated households prefer assets with negative returns over human capital investments in their offspring, and hence fall into an intergenerational poverty trap. Their educational investments begin only after an income threshold is reached and the same may be funded through transfers or withdrawal of educational subsidies from college educated households without lowering their human capital investments. Educational subsidies and higher access to educational inputs work best for middle educated households who have higher demand for education. For policy analysis, this study quantifies the contributions of income support, financial inclusion, lower uncertainty and subsidised education in reducing the supply of child labour.

Child labour in Pakistan: Addressing supply and demand side labour market dynamics

AbstractThis article uses empirical evidence, based on labour market indicators, to analyse the factors influencing the incidence of child labour in Pakistan, from both supply and demand sides. The level of demand for child labour is shown to be linked mainly to adult wage levels, the adult unemployment rate in an area, and the size of the informal and agriculture sectors. The supply of child labour is seen to be positively linked to the proportion of adult unemployment in the household. Unlike previous studies, the article analyses both demand and supply side factors in a context of poverty and takes account of the co-existence of formal and informal labour markets. Furthermore, to generalise the issue for a longer span of time (which previous studies fail to do), it adopts the methodology of a pseudo-panel approach based on that proposed by Deaton. This approach makes it possible to pinpoint more accurately the factors, and their interaction, that need to be considered in any effective policy approach to the issue of child labour. To prevent unintended consequences, a multi-faceted development approach is required.

Relocation, Intergenerational Transfers and Extended Family Insurance

This paper studies how young adults make relocation decisions to take advantage of time transfers from parents as a form of insurance against adverse economic conditions. It first documents the fact that adult children who received negative income shocks during the Great Recession were more likely to move to live closer to parents. Only one tenth of these movers chose to reside within their parents' home. The paper sets up a stylized model to illustrate how the possibility of time transfers affects the labor supply and welfare of adult children, and compares its impact with other forms of intergenerational transfers. We utilize the model to explore whether parental time assistance to the child, aided by proximity, becomes a more common phenomenon when the labor market deteriorates.

Relative Affluence and Child Labor—Explaining a Paradox

AbstractSome micro level empirical studies found child labor incidence increasing even with improvement in the economic conditions of the poor. This paper provides a possible explanation as to why increase in absolute income may not be sufficient to solve the problem of child labor. We argue that people in general are not just concerned about their own consumption; they are very much affected by the consumption of their peers. While taking decisions regarding the time allocation of their children between work and leisure, parents do keep an eye on their relative position in the society. We develop a theoretical model of household decision making to show that child labor supply from a poor family can increase even with improvements in its economic conditions, if the family's relative position in the society deteriorates and if the relative status effect is sufficiently strong.

Does Health Insurance Reduce Child Labour and Education Gaps? Evidence from Rwanda

A common practice of poor households to informally deal with risk is to allocate children’s time away from school towards income-generating activities or household production. Focussing on Rwanda, this study investigates whether the provision of formal health insurance helps to prevent this undesired risk coping strategy. We find that children of households enrolled in health insurance work significantly less compared to those of not enrolled families, and also have better educational achievements. The results suggest that policy interventions which reduce household risk exposure may have additional benefits in terms of lower child labour supply and higher schooling levels.

Gone with the Storm: Rainfall Shocks and Household Wellbeing in Guatemala

ABSTRACTThis paper identifies the negative consequences of the strongest tropical storm ever to strike Guatemala on household welfare. Per capita consumption fell in urban areas, raising poverty substantially. Households cut back on food consumption and basic durables, and attempted to cope by increasing their adult and child labour supply. The mechanisms at play include the intensity of the shock, food prices and the timing of Agatha with respect to local harvest cycles. The results are robust to placebo treatments, migration and measurement error, and partly explain the increase in poverty in the country previously attributed solely to the collateral effects of the global financial crisis.

How do Educational Transfers Affect Child Labour Supply and Expenditures? Evidence from Indonesia of Impact and Flypaper Effects

This study utilises a large nationally representative household survey of unusual scope and richness from Indonesia to analyse how the receipt of educational transfers, scholarships and related assistance programmes affects the labour supply of children and the marginal spending behaviour of households on children's educational goods. We found strong evidence of educational cash transfers and related assistance programmes significantly decreasing the time spent by children in income-generating activities in Indonesia. Households receiving educational transfers, scholarships and assistance were also found to spend more at the margin on voluntary educational goods. These results were stronger for children living in poor families. Our results are particularly relevant for understanding the role of cash transfers and educational assistance in middle-income countries where enrolment rates are already at satisfactory levels, but the challenge is to keep the students in school at post-primary levels.

Child Care and Labour Market Participation in France: Do Monetary Incentives Matter?

This paper presents a model of the child care arrangements and labour supply of mothers with young children (under three). We use French data to estimate simultaneously mothers' labour force participation and type of child care chosen. The independent variables include estimated child care costs and mother's potential incomes obtained by simulating the benefits and taxes associated with different participation choices (working full-time, part-time or out of the labour market). Availability of free child care (from family and relatives) is also taken into account. We show that monetary incentives do play a role. Child care costs have a direct effect on mothers'

Child Workers and Industrial Health in Britain, 1780–1850, by Peter Kirby

Child Workers and Industrial Health in Britain, 1780-1850, by Peter Kirby. People, Markets, Goods: Economies and Societies in History, Vol. 2. Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2013. xii, 212 pp. 17.99 [pounds sterling] UK (paper). In this study Kirby seeks to dispel the myth that child workers in industrial occupations necessarily suffered worse health due to the nature of their work than did other child workers. He argues that this idea stemmed largely from the misleading and exaggerated claims of refonners in the 1830s factory debates and that it has not previously been the subject of rigorous research. As Kirby demonstrates, factory work was generally less intensive than other forms of child labour, such as agriculture, mining, and even domestic manufacture. This careful work revises a long-held stereotype. The book builds well on Kirby's other research on child labour. The author begins his study with an exploration of the wider environment of manufacturing, which was one characterized by massive population growth and rapid urbanization, with its associated problems of overcrowding, poor sanitation, poverty, and increased illness in and death of infants and children. Rising child dependency (with almost forty percent of the population aged under fifteen) was mirrored by increases in the supply of child labour and poorer children were put into work at early ages, particularly those who had lost a parent, a finding shared by other recent historians of child labour. The author then assesses the specific hazards of the factory system for child workers in terms of the risk of deformities, the effect of raw materials, industrial injuries, and ill-treatment. He then examines the relative impact of the wider manufacturing environment and the workplace setting upon the heights and strength of child workers, with Kirby giving greater weight to environment over occupational health. However, as Kirby expertly highlights, there are significant methodological problems in isolating occupational health from the wider epidemiological and environmental causes of sickness in this period, a relative dark age of information on morbidity and mortality, which is unfortunate given that this was a major period of occupational and epidemiological transitions. Kirby draws upon modern studies of occupational medicine and the health of child workers in developing economies in order to help him illuminate the difficult contemporary evidence. Stories of poor child health became integral to the Ten Hours Movement and white slavery. Most of the medical practitioners giving evidence to parliamentary select committees had little or no experience of the factory work they were commenting upon. The author concludes that the medical profession actually played no role in improving child industrial ill-health and may even have diverted attention away from it. …

How to Model a Child in School? A Dynamic Macrosimulation Study for Tanzania

AbstractUniversal primary education is regarded as one of the key pillars of sustainable development. The positive influence of education on growth is supported by many empirical studies. However, the effects of education on labour supply, poverty reduction and welfare as well as subsistence agriculture are hardly traceable in an econometric set‐up, given the complex interactions and the long‐term nature of education. An economy‐wide dynamic simulation model provides a well‐suited toolkit to analyse the effects of increased school provision in these aspects and provides insights into the intertemporal aspects of the schooling decision of children.We develop a macroeconomic model that explicitly includes education and human capital allocation, and takes into account that the possibility of child labour increases the opportunity costs of human capital formation. In an application for Tanzania, we find that a large‐scale investment programme in education might have a negative effect on both gross domestic product (GDP) growth and high‐skilled labour supply in the short term but leads to higher GDP and welfare as well as significantly reduced child labour supply in the medium to long term.

The impact of Oportunidades on human capital and income distribution in Mexico: A top-down/bottom-up approach

To analyze the effects of the Mexican Oportunidades conditional cash transfer program on school attendance and household income distribution, this paper links a microeconometric simulation model and a general equilibrium model in a bidirectional way, so to explicitly take spillover effects of the program into account. Our results suggest that partial equilibrium analysis alone underestimates the distributional effects of the program. Extending the coverage of the program to the poor increases school attendance, reduces child labor supply, and increases the equilibrium wages of children who remain at work. With a relatively low fiscal cost, Mexican social policy could further reduce income inequality and poverty.

Child Labor Variation by Type of Respondent: Evidence from a Large-Scale Study

Summary This study uses a nationally representative survey to analyze a key survey design decision in child labor measurement: self-reporting versus proxy interviewing. The child/proxy disagreement affects 20% of the sample, which translates into a 17.1 percentage point difference in the national rate of child labor. Marginal effects from standard child labor supply functions show child/proxy differences, particularly when the household experienced negative shocks. We find that attitudes and social perceptions toward child labor are not related to the likelihood of disagreement. A modified bivariate choice model reports statistically significant probabilities of misclassification that range between 9% and 30%.

Child Labour Use in a Small Developing Country: Is it Luxury, Distributional or Substitution Axiom?

Child labour use in developing countries has been increasing over the years. In general, it’s characterized by low wages and long hours of work under dangerous, hazardous, unhealthy and unhygienic conditions, which could lead to poor physical and mental development. It deprives a child of education and natural development. In this paper, we examined the use of child labour in Fiji. The study utilized primary data collected using a structured survey to examine the determinants of child labour. The results from this study demonstrate that the variables such as household size, household income, and the gender of children significantly affect child labour supply. Furthermore, absence of adults from households is also a causal factor contributing towards child labour. Using these results, we make a case for “luxury” and “substitution” axioms for Fiji’s Child labour market.