Why Should We Care About Child Labor? The Education, Labor Market, and Health Consequences of Child Labor
Although there is extensive literature on the determinants of child labor and many initiatives aimed at combating it, there is limited evidence on the consequences of child labor on socioeconomic outcomes such as education, wages, and health. The authors evaluate the causal effect of child labor par...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/01/5594964/care-child-labor-education-labor-market-health-consequences-child-labor http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8897 |
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okr-10986-88972021-04-23T14:02:42Z Why Should We Care About Child Labor? The Education, Labor Market, and Health Consequences of Child Labor Beegle, Kathleen Dehejia, Rajeev Gatti, Roberta AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION BORROWING CHILD EARNINGS CHILD LABOR CHILDHOOD DEMOCRACY DEVELOPED COUNTRIES DISCOUNT RATES ECONOMIC COSTS ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMICS EMPLOYMENT EQUILIBRIUM EXPENDITURES FARMS GIFTED CHILDREN HUMAN CAPITAL INCOME INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION LABOR DISTRIBUTION LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKETS LIVING STANDARDS MARGINAL PRODUCTIVITY MARKET WAGE MATHEMATICS OUTPUTS PARENTS PRICE DIFFERENCES PRIVATE COSTS PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTIVITY TRANSITION ECONOMIES WAGE INCREASES WAGES WORKERS WORKING CHILDREN WORKING HOURS Although there is extensive literature on the determinants of child labor and many initiatives aimed at combating it, there is limited evidence on the consequences of child labor on socioeconomic outcomes such as education, wages, and health. The authors evaluate the causal effect of child labor participation on these outcomes using panel data from Vietnam and an instrumental variables strategy. Five years subsequent to the child labor experience, they find significant negative effects on school participation and educational attainment, but also find substantially higher earnings for those (young) adults who worked as children. The authors find no significant effects on health. Over a longer horizon, they estimate that from age 30 onward the forgone earnings attributable to lost schooling exceed any earnings gain associated with child labor and that the net present discounted value of child labor is positive for discount rates of 11.5 percent or higher. The authors show that child labor is prevalent among households likely to have higher borrowing costs, that are farther from schools, and whose adult members experienced negative returns to their own education. This evidence suggests that reducing child labor will require facilitating access to credit and will also require households to be forward looking. 2012-06-22T22:05:42Z 2012-06-22T22:05:42Z 2005-01 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/01/5594964/care-child-labor-education-labor-market-health-consequences-child-labor http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8897 English Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3479 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
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Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
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World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION BORROWING CHILD EARNINGS CHILD LABOR CHILDHOOD DEMOCRACY DEVELOPED COUNTRIES DISCOUNT RATES ECONOMIC COSTS ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMICS EMPLOYMENT EQUILIBRIUM EXPENDITURES FARMS GIFTED CHILDREN HUMAN CAPITAL INCOME INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION LABOR DISTRIBUTION LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKETS LIVING STANDARDS MARGINAL PRODUCTIVITY MARKET WAGE MATHEMATICS OUTPUTS PARENTS PRICE DIFFERENCES PRIVATE COSTS PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTIVITY TRANSITION ECONOMIES WAGE INCREASES WAGES WORKERS WORKING CHILDREN WORKING HOURS |
| spellingShingle |
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION BORROWING CHILD EARNINGS CHILD LABOR CHILDHOOD DEMOCRACY DEVELOPED COUNTRIES DISCOUNT RATES ECONOMIC COSTS ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMICS EMPLOYMENT EQUILIBRIUM EXPENDITURES FARMS GIFTED CHILDREN HUMAN CAPITAL INCOME INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION LABOR DISTRIBUTION LABOR MARKET LABOR MARKETS LIVING STANDARDS MARGINAL PRODUCTIVITY MARKET WAGE MATHEMATICS OUTPUTS PARENTS PRICE DIFFERENCES PRIVATE COSTS PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTIVITY TRANSITION ECONOMIES WAGE INCREASES WAGES WORKERS WORKING CHILDREN WORKING HOURS Beegle, Kathleen Dehejia, Rajeev Gatti, Roberta Why Should We Care About Child Labor? The Education, Labor Market, and Health Consequences of Child Labor |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper; No. 3479 |
| description |
Although there is extensive literature on the determinants of child labor and many initiatives aimed at combating it, there is limited evidence on the consequences of child labor on socioeconomic outcomes such as education, wages, and health. The authors evaluate the causal effect of child labor participation on these outcomes using panel data from Vietnam and an instrumental variables strategy. Five years subsequent to the child labor experience, they find significant negative effects on school participation and educational attainment, but also find substantially higher earnings for those (young) adults who worked as children. The authors find no significant effects on health. Over a longer horizon, they estimate that from age 30 onward the forgone earnings attributable to lost schooling exceed any earnings gain associated with child labor and that the net present discounted value of child labor is positive for discount rates of 11.5 percent or higher. The authors show that child labor is prevalent among households likely to have higher borrowing costs, that are farther from schools, and whose adult members experienced negative returns to their own education. This evidence suggests that reducing child labor will require facilitating access to credit and will also require households to be forward looking. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| author |
Beegle, Kathleen Dehejia, Rajeev Gatti, Roberta |
| author_facet |
Beegle, Kathleen Dehejia, Rajeev Gatti, Roberta |
| author_sort |
Beegle, Kathleen |
| title |
Why Should We Care About Child Labor? The Education, Labor Market, and Health Consequences of Child Labor |
| title_short |
Why Should We Care About Child Labor? The Education, Labor Market, and Health Consequences of Child Labor |
| title_full |
Why Should We Care About Child Labor? The Education, Labor Market, and Health Consequences of Child Labor |
| title_fullStr |
Why Should We Care About Child Labor? The Education, Labor Market, and Health Consequences of Child Labor |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Why Should We Care About Child Labor? The Education, Labor Market, and Health Consequences of Child Labor |
| title_sort |
why should we care about child labor? the education, labor market, and health consequences of child labor |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2012 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2005/01/5594964/care-child-labor-education-labor-market-health-consequences-child-labor http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8897 |
| _version_ |
1764406949516935168 |