IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mir/mirbus/v2y2012i3p91-98.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Poverty, Fertility and Child Labor: Does Demand Theory of Fertility Matter? An Exploratory Study in India

Author

Listed:
  • Gargi Bhattacharya

    (Assistant Professor, Economics Department,Mahadevananda Mahavidyalaya, Barrackpore,Kolkata-700120,India)

  • Sushil K. Haldar

    (Associate Professor, Department of Economics,Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700032,India)

Abstract

It is hypothesized that fertility, poverty and child labor are jointly determined variables; neither can be assumed to be an independent determinant of the other. In a simultaneous equation framework, we find that demand theory of fertility does hold good even at the lower level of income where the females are compelled to go outside home for cash in order to avoid destitute and they prefer less number of children. Therefore, in order to regulate fertility in India, one can suggest increasing female employment opportunity at the informal sector, since formal sector job is severely restricted in India. It is observed that child labor is caused by lower health status and poor human capital investment. Thus, if we increase the per capita social sector expenditure on education and healthcare, it directly augments enrollment of the children in school. Since health and education is treated as complementary to each other, a rise in social sector investment has some spillover benefits to the society.

Suggested Citation

  • Gargi Bhattacharya & Sushil K. Haldar, 2012. "Poverty, Fertility and Child Labor: Does Demand Theory of Fertility Matter? An Exploratory Study in India," International Journal of Business and Social Research, MIR Center for Socio-Economic Research, vol. 2(3), pages 91-98, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:mir:mirbus:v:2:y:2012:i:3:p:91-98
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://thejournalofbusiness.org/index.php/site/article/view/179/178
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Bank, 2007. "World Development Indicators 2007," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 8150.
    2. William Lord & Peter Rangazas, 2006. "Fertility and development: the roles of schooling and family production," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 11(3), pages 229-261, September.
    3. Richard Easterlin & Robert Pollak & Michael L. Wachter, 1980. "Toward a More General Economic Model of Fertility Determination: Endogenous Preferences and Natural Fertility," NBER Chapters, in: Population and Economic Change in Developing Countries, pages 81-150, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Engelhardt, Sebastian v. & Freytag, Andreas, 2013. "Institutions, culture, and open source," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 90-110.
    2. David K. Evans & Arkadipta Ghosh, 2008. "Prioritizing Educational Investments in Children in the Developing World," Working Papers WR-587, RAND Corporation.
    3. Ricardo A. Lopez, 2007. "Exports and Productivity – Comparable Evidence for 14 Countries," CAEPR Working Papers 2007-028, Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, Department of Economics, Indiana University Bloomington.
    4. Fofack, Hippolyte, 2008. "Technology trap and poverty trap in Sub-Saharan Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4582, The World Bank.
    5. Oya Celasun & Philipp Harms, 2011. "Boon Or Burden? The Effect Of Private Sector Debt On The Risk Of Sovereign Default In Developing Countries," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(1), pages 70-88, January.
    6. Edsel Beja Jr., 2007. "The Tenth Anniversary of the Asian Financial Crisis: A Retrospective on East Asian Economic Performance," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(5), pages 57-72.
    7. Gerring, John & Thacker, Strom C. & Lu, Yuan & Huang, Wei, 2015. "Does Diversity Impair Human Development? A Multi-Level Test of the Diversity Debit Hypothesis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 166-188.
    8. Diego A. Comin & Bart Hobijn, 2009. "The CHAT Dataset," Harvard Business School Working Papers 10-035, Harvard Business School.
    9. World Bank, 2015. "Republic of Yemen," World Bank Publications - Reports 23660, The World Bank Group.
    10. Dalila Nicet-Chenaf & Eric Rougier, 2009. "Human capital and structural change: how do they interact with each others in growth," Post-Print hal-00798441, HAL.
    11. Baudin, Thomas, 2010. "A Role For Cultural Transmission In Fertility Transitions," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 454-481, September.
    12. Jo Thori Lind & Karl Moene, 2011. "Miserly Developments," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(9), pages 1332-1352, June.
    13. repec:ebl:ecbull:v:17:y:2008:i:22:p:1-11 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Kenneth Harttgen & Stephan Klasen, 2010. "Fragility and MDG Progress: How useful is the Fragility Concept?," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 41, Courant Research Centre PEG.
    15. Matthew A. Cole & Robert J.R. Elliott & Jing Zhang, 2011. "Growth, Foreign Direct Investment, And The Environment: Evidence From Chinese Cities," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 121-138, February.
    16. Masako Kimura & Daishin Yasui, 2012. "Public Policy and the Income-Fertility Relationship in Economic Development," Discussion Papers 1224, Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University.
    17. Adalgiso Amendola & Joshy Easaw & Antonio Savoia, 2013. "Inequality in developing economies: the role of institutional development," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 43-60, April.
    18. Diego E. Vacaflores, 2011. "Was Latin America Correct In Relying In Foreign Direct Investment To Improve Employment Rates?," Applied Econometrics and International Development, Euro-American Association of Economic Development, vol. 11(2).
    19. Castellacci, Fulvio, 2008. "Technology clubs, technology gaps and growth trajectories," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 301-314, December.
    20. James, Jennifer S. & Pardey, Philip G. & Alston, Julian M., 2008. "Agricultural R&D Policy: A Tragedy of the International Commons," Staff Papers 43094, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    21. Doepke, Matthias & Hannusch, Anne & Kindermann, Fabian & Tertilt, Michèle, 2022. "The Economics of Fertility: A New Era," IZA Discussion Papers 15224, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mir:mirbus:v:2:y:2012:i:3:p:91-98. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: M Kabir (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/csmirus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.