Publication: Child Labor Bans, Employment, and School Attendance: Evidence from Changes in the Minimum Working Age
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Published
2025-02-13
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0258-6770
Date
2025-02-13
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Abstract
This paper investigates the effect of a unique child labor ban regulation on employment and school enrollment. The ban, implemented in Mexico in 2015, increased the minimum working age from 14 to 15, introduced restrictions to employing underage individuals, and imposed stricter penalties for violation of the law. Our identification strategy relies on a DiD approach that exploits the date of birth as a natural cutoff to assign individuals into treatment and control groups. The ban led to a decrease in the probability of working by 1.2 percentage points, resembling a 16 percent decrease relative to the pre-reform mean, and an increase in the likelihood of being enrolled in school by 2.2 percentage points for the treatment group. These results are driven by reduced employment in paid work and the manufacturing and services sectors. The effects have been persistent for several years after the ban.
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“Kozhaya, Mireille; Flores, Fernanda Martínez. 2025. Child Labor Bans, Employment, and School Attendance: Evidence from Changes in the Minimum Working Age. World Bank Economic Review. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/42814 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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World Bank Economic Review
1564-698X
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