Introduction Child Labor and Education in Latin America

This book is the result of a collaborative project between the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and country and institutional partners working in the field of child labor in Latin America. It aims to improve our understanding of the root causes and consequences of persistent child labor and to contribute to the policy debate with the goal of enhancing the current and future welfare of all children in Latin America. The evidence presented demonstrates that understanding the behavior of households, markets, institutions, and the local political economy is critical for reducing and eliminating child labor in the region. The research supports the view that working as a child creates a lifetime of costs in the form of lower earnings and increased probability of living in poverty as an adult. It has intergenerational consequences by creating “dynastic poverty traps” whereby the children of child laborers are also likely to be poor, as are their children. It also explores promising policy alternatives for breaking free of these traps.