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Child labor and compulsory education: the effects of government education policy on economic growth and welfare

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  • Chia-Hui Lu

    (National Taipei University)

Abstract

Regardless of the degree of development of a country, its government’s education policy, including compulsory education and investment in the education sector, can increase household welfare. Besides, in developed and least developed countries, if the duration of compulsory education is sufficiently long, the government can increase economic growth by setting a longer period of compulsory education or investing more in the education sector. Accordingly, public education policy is one way in which poorer countries can catch up with developed countries. Furthermore, except for directly abolishing child labor, the government can use these sorts of policies to address the problem of child labor.

Suggested Citation

  • Chia-Hui Lu, 2020. "Child labor and compulsory education: the effects of government education policy on economic growth and welfare," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 69(3), pages 637-666, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecth:v:69:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s00199-019-01176-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s00199-019-01176-w
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    Cited by:

    1. Tang, Le & Sun, Shiyu & Yang, Weiguo, 2021. "Investments in human capital: The evidence from China’s new rural pension scheme," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    2. Zhao Li & Yujing Chu & Hang Fang, 2022. "Hierarchical Education Investment and Economic Growth in China," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, June.
    3. Binh Thi Thanh Dang & Trung Xuan Hoang, 2024. "The impact of compulsory primary education law on the educational attainment of children: Evidence from Vietnam," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 118-147, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Child labor; Compulsory education; Economic growth; Welfare;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy
    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models

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