Western Policies on Child Labor Abroad

Western Policies on Child Labor Abroad

Fighting Child Labor Abroad: Conceptual Problems and Practical Solutions

Child labor is a topic that evokes deep emotions and a growing international concern. Most recent ILO estimates show that some 211 million children between 5 and 14 are engaged in some form of economic activity, and 119 million of them are engaged in haz­ ardous work. The poverty implications of child labor are often transmitted from parents to children, a process that is called the dynastic po...

Policies to Combat Child Labor: A Dynamic Analysis

This paper analyzes child labor in a fully dynamic model with credit constraints. It considers the long-run and short-run effects of an array of policies like lump-sum subsidy, enrollment subsidy, improvement in primary education and variations in loan market parameters. It is shown that some policies that reduce child labor in the long run may lead to an increase in child labor in the short ru...

The Effect of FDI on Child Labor

This paper examines the extent to which foreign direct investment (FDI) affects child labor. Using 1995 data for 145 countries, we find that, contrary to common fears, FDI is negatively correlated with child labor. This effect, however, disappears when controlling for per capita income. After doing so, we find no robust effect of either FDI or international trade on child labor. This result is ...

Local Labor Demand and Child Labor

This paper uses micro data from the Brazilian PNAD between 1981 and 2002 to ascertain the role of local labor demand play in shaping work and schooling decisions of children aged 10-15. Using male adult employment by state and year as a proxy for labor demand, we find evidence that contrary to the widespread view that child labor is procyclical among young children (ages 1012) employment (schoo...