IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/hdnspu/24081.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Child labor, nutrition, and education in rural India : an economic analysis of parental choice and policy options

Author

Listed:
  • Cigno, Alessandro
  • Rosati, Furio Camillo
  • Tzannatos, Zafiris

Abstract

The causes and consequences of child labor are examined within a household decision framework with survival uncertainty and endogenous fertility. The data come from a nationally representative survey of Indian rural households. The complex interactions uncovered by the analysis suggest that mere prohibition of child labor, or the imposition of school attendance, would make things worse, and would be difficult to enforce. Beneficially reducing child labor requires changing the economic environment to which the work of children constitutes, in the great majority of cases, the rational response. Suitable policies include capillary provision of schools, and public health improvements. The effects of these policies go far beyond direct impacts. They have favorable indirect repercussions on the school attendance, educational expenditure, labor participation, and nutritional status of children. They also discourage fertility. Women's education, and income re-distribution are also helpful, but land re-distribution may be counterproductive.

Suggested Citation

  • Cigno, Alessandro & Rosati, Furio Camillo & Tzannatos, Zafiris, 2001. "Child labor, nutrition, and education in rural India : an economic analysis of parental choice and policy options," Social Protection Discussion Papers and Notes 24081, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:hdnspu:24081
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2002/05/20/000094946_02050304123264/Rendered/PDF/multi0page.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kaushik Basu, 1999. "Child Labor: Cause, Consequence, and Cure, with Remarks on International Labor Standards," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(3), pages 1083-1119, September.
    2. Gary S. Becker & H. Gregg Lewis, 1974. "Interaction between Quantity and Quality of Children," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 81-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Kaushik Basu, 1999. "International Labor Standards and Child Labor," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(5), pages 80-93, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jean-Pierre Lachaud, 2007. "Les déterminants de l'inactivité économique et de la non-scolarisation des enfants aux Comores et à Madagascar. Existe-t-il une courbe de Kuznets ?," Documents de travail 140, Groupe d'Economie du Développement de l'Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV.
    2. Furio Camillo Rosati & Mariacristina Rossi, 2003. "Children's Working Hours and School Enrollment: Evidence from Pakistan and Nicaragua," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 283-295, December.
    3. Bhalotra, Sonia & Heady, Chris, 2000. "Child farm labour: theory and evidence," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 6654, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Dayang Haszelinna binti Abang Ali & G. Reza Arabsheibani, 2016. "Child Labour in Indonesia: Supply-Side Determinants," Economics and Finance in Indonesia, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia, vol. 62, pages 162-179, December.
    5. Long Thanh Giang & Cuong Viet Nguyen & Tuyen Quang Tran & Vu Thieu, 2017. "Does Firm Agglomeration Matter to Labor and Education of Local Children? Evidence in Vietnam," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 10(4), pages 1015-1041, December.
    6. Sonia Bhalotra & Christopher Heady, 2003. "Child Farm Labor: The Wealth Paradox," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 197-227, December.
    7. Leonardo Becchetti & Giovanni Trovato, 2005. "The Determinants of Child Labour: The Role of Primary Product Specialization," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 19(2), pages 237-271, June.
    8. O.O'Donnell & F.Rosati & E.van Doorslaer, 2003. "Health Effects of Children's Work: Evidence from Vietnam," UCW Working Paper 2, Understanding Children's Work (UCW Programme).
    9. Carvalho, José Raimundo & Marinho, Emerson & Loria, Francesca, 2012. "Idleness, Returns to Education and Child Labor," Revista Brasileira de Economia - RBE, EPGE Brazilian School of Economics and Finance - FGV EPGE (Brazil), vol. 66(4), December.
    10. Atul MEHTA & Joysankar BHATTACHARYA, 2019. "What discriminates the welfare outcomes of children in India. A multiple discriminant analysis in selected states," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(2(619), S), pages 261-276, Summer.
    11. F. Rosati & M. Rossi, 2001. "Children's Working Hours, School Enrolment and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from Pakistan and Nicaragua," UCW Working Paper 8, Understanding Children's Work (UCW Programme).
    12. Rana Khan & Muhammad Raza, 2016. "Determinants of malnutrition in Indian children: new evidence from IDHS through CIAF," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 299-316, January.
    13. repec:fgv:epgrbe:v:66:n:4:a:1 is not listed 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. Vladimir Ponczek & Andre Portela Souza, 2012. "New Evidence of the Causal Effect of Family Size on Child Quality in a Developing Country," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(1), pages 64-106.
    2. C. Simon Fan, 2004. "Child Labor and the Interaction between the Quantity and Quality of Children," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(1), pages 21-35, July.
    3. C. Simon Fan, 2004. "Child Labor and the Interaction between the Quantity and Quality of Children," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 71(1), pages 21-35, July.
    4. Ersado, Lire, 2005. "Child Labor and Schooling Decisions in Urban and Rural Areas: Comparative Evidence from Nepal, Peru, and Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 455-480, March.
    5. Ersado, Lire, 2002. "Child labor and school decisions in urban and rural areas," FCND briefs 145, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Ersado, Lire, 2003. "Child Labor And Schooling Decisions In Urban And Rural Areas: Cross-Country Evidence," 2003 Annual meeting, July 27-30, Montreal, Canada 21924, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    7. Matthias Doepke & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2003. "Voting with Your Children: A Positive Analysis of Child Labor Laws," UCLA Economics Working Papers 828, UCLA Department of Economics.
    8. Sylvain Dessy & Stephane Pallage, 2002. "Fertility, Education, and Market Failures," Journal of African Development, African Finance and Economic Association (AFEA), vol. 5(2), pages 71-85.
    9. Ponczek, Vladimir Pinheiro & Souza, André Portela Fernandes de, 2007. "The causal effect of family size on child labor and education," Textos para discussão 162, FGV EESP - Escola de Economia de São Paulo, Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil).
    10. Drusilla K. Brown & Alan V. Deardorff & Robert M Stern, 2001. "Child Labor: Theory, Evidence, and Policy," Working Papers 474, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    11. C. Simon Fan, 2004. "Child Labor and the Interaction between the Quantity and Quality of Children," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 71(1), pages 21-35, July.
    12. Shafiq, M. Najeeb, 2007. "Household schooling and child labor decisions in rural Bangladesh," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 946-966, December.
    13. Kathleen Beegle & Rajeev Dehejia & Roberta Gatti, 2003. "Child Labor, Crop Shocks, and Credit Constraints," NBER Working Papers 10088, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Matthias Doepke & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2005. "The Macroeconomics of Child Labor Regulation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(5), pages 1492-1524, December.
    15. G. Bellettini & C. Berti Ceroni, 2000. "Compulsory schooling laws and the cure against child labor," Working Papers 394, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    16. Patrick M. Emerson & Vladimir Ponczek & André Portela Souza, 2017. "Child Labor and Learning," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(2), pages 265-296.
    17. Caroline Orset, 2008. "A Theory of Child Protection against Kidnapping," Cahiers de recherche 0816, CIRPEE.
    18. Fabre, Alice & Pallage, Stéphane, 2015. "Child labor, idiosyncratic shocks, and social policy," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 394-411.
    19. Jayanta Sarkar & Dipanwita Sarkar, 2016. "Why Does Child Labor Persist With Declining Poverty?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 54(1), pages 139-158, January.
    20. Kambhampati, Uma S. & Rajan, Raji, 2006. "Economic growth: A panacea for child labor?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 426-445, March.

    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:wbk:hdnspu:24081. 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: Aaron F Buchsbaum (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/wrldbus.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.