Publication: Does Child Labor Always Decrease with Income? An Evaluation in the Context of a Development Program in Nicaragua
Date
2008-08
ISSN
Published
2008-08
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper investigates the relationship
of household income with child labor. The analysis uses a
rich dataset obtained in the context of a conditional cash
transfer program in a poor region of Nicaragua in 2005 and
2006. The program has a strong productive emphasis and seeks
to diversify the work portfolio of beneficiaries while
imposing conditionalities on the household. The author
develops a simple model that relates child labor to
household income, preferences, and production technology.
It turns out that child labor does not always decrease with
income; the relationship is complex and exhibits an
inverted-U shape. Applying the data to the model confirms
that the relationship is concave when all children (8-15
years of age) are included in the sample. Expanding the
analysis by stratifying the sample by age and gender shows
that the relationship holds only for older children, both
genders. The author investigates the effect of the
conditional cash transfer program on child labor. The
results show that the program has a decreasing effect on
total hours of work for the full sample of children.
Disentangling labor into two types - physically demanding
labor and non-physical labor - reveals that the program has
opposite effects on each type; it decreases physically
demanding labor while increasing participation in
non-physical (more intellectually oriented) tasks for children.
Citation
“Del Carpio, Ximena V.. 2008. Does Child Labor Always Decrease with Income? An Evaluation in the Context of a Development Program in Nicaragua. Policy Research Working Paper No. 4694. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/c012cf5a-9af9-56fe-8364-28a3a4763e7c License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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