IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/4677.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The consequences of child labor : evidence from longitudinal data in rural Tanzania

Author

Listed:
  • Beegle, Kathleen
  • Dehejia, Rajeev H.
  • Gatti, Roberta
  • Krutikova, Sofya

Abstract

This paper exploits a unique longitudinal data set from Tanzania to examine the consequences of child labor on education, employment choices, and marital status over a 10-year horizon. Shocks to crop production and rainfall are used as instrumental variables for child labor. For boys, the findings show that a one-standard-deviation (5.7 hour) increase in child labor leads 10 years later to a loss of approximately one year of schooling and to a substantial increase in the likelihood of farming and of marrying at a younger age. Strikingly, there are no significant effects on education for girls, but there is a significant increase in the likelihood of marrying young. The findings also show that crop shocks lead to an increase in agricultural work for boys and instead lead to an increase in chore hours for girls. The results are consistent with education being a lower priority for girls and/or with chores causing less disruption for education than agricultural work. The increased chore hours could also account for the results on marriage for girls.

Suggested Citation

  • Beegle, Kathleen & Dehejia, Rajeev H. & Gatti, Roberta & Krutikova, Sofya, 2008. "The consequences of child labor : evidence from longitudinal data in rural Tanzania," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4677, The World Bank.
  • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4677
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2008/07/23/000158349_20080723102416/Rendered/PDF/WPS4677.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heady, Christopher, 2003. "The Effect of Child Labor on Learning Achievement," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 385-398, February.
    2. 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.
    3. Patrick M. Emerson & André Portela Souza, 2011. "Is Child Labor Harmful? The Impact of Working Earlier in Life on Adult Earnings," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 59(2), pages 345-385.
    4. Owen O'Donnell & Furio C. Rosati & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2005. "Health effects of child work: Evidence from rural Vietnam," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(3), pages 437-467, September.
    5. Mark R. Rosenzweig & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 1985. "Specific Experience, Household Structure, and Intergenerational Transfers: Farm Family Land and Labor Arrangements in Developing Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 100(Supplemen), pages 961-987.
    6. Horowitz, Andrew W. & Wang, Jian, 2004. "Favorite son? Specialized child laborers and students in poor LDC households," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 631-642, April.
    7. Ravallion, Martin & Lokshin, Michael, 2005. "Lasting local impacts of an economywide crisis," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3503, The World Bank.
    8. Hanan G. Jacoby, 1993. "Shadow Wages and Peasant Family Labour Supply: An Econometric Application to the Peruvian Sierra," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 60(4), pages 903-921.
    9. Bezerra, Márcio Eduardo G. & Kassouf, Ana Lucia & Arends-Kuenning, Mary P., 2009. "The Impact of Child Labor and School Quality on Academic Achievement in Brazil," IZA Discussion Papers 4062, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Behrman, Jere R. & Murphy, Alexis & Quisumbing, Agnes & Ramakrishnan,Usha & Yount, Kathyrn, 2006. "What is the real impact of schooling on age of first union and age of first parenting ? New evidence from Guatemala," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4023, The World Bank.
    11. Jonathan Morduch, 1995. "Income Smoothing and Consumption Smoothing," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 103-114, Summer.
    12. Kathleen Beegle & Rajeev Dehejia & Roberta Gatti, 2009. "Why Should We Care About Child Labor?: The Education, Labor Market, and Health Consequences of Child Labor," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(4).
    13. George Psacharopoulos & Harry Anthony Patrinos, 1997. "Family size, schooling and child labor in Peru - An empirical analysis," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 10(4), pages 387-405.
    14. Dehejia, Rajeev H & Gatti, Roberta & Beegle, Kathleen, 2004. "The Education, Labour Market and Health Consequences of Child Labour," CEPR Discussion Papers 4443, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Kaushik Basu, 1999. "International Labor Standards and Child Labor," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(5), pages 80-93, September.
    16. Ravallion, Martin & Wodon, Quentin, 2000. "Does Child Labour Displace Schooling? Evidence on Behavioural Responses to an Enrollment Subsidy," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(462), pages 158-175, March.
    17. Beegle, Kathleen & Dehejia, Rajeev H. & Gatti, Roberta, 2006. "Child labor and agricultural shocks," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 80-96, October.
    18. Ranjan RAY & Geoffrey LANCASTER, 2005. "The impact of children's work on schooling: Multi-country evidence," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 144(2), pages 189-210, June.
    19. Ray, Ranjan, & Lancaster, Geoffrey., 2004. "The impact of children's work on schooling : multi-country evidence based on SIMPOC data," ILO Working Papers 993738343402676, International Labour Organization.
    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. 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.
    2. Korkeala, Outi & Newhouse, David & Duarte, Mafalda, 2009. "Distributional impact analysis of past climate variability in rural Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5070, The World Bank.
    3. Christelle Dumas, 2012. "Does Work Impede Child Learning? The Case of Senegal," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(4), pages 773-793.
    4. Denis Cogneau & Rémi Jedwab, 2012. "Commodity Price Shocks and Child Outcomes: The 1990 Cocoa Crisis in Côte d'Ivoire," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(3), pages 507-534.
    5. Kammas, Pantelis & Sakalis, Argyris & Sarantides, Vassilis, 2021. "Pudding, plague and education: trade and human capital formation in an agrarian economy," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112206, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Bandara, Amarakoon & Dehejia, Rajeev & Lavie-Rouse, Shaheen, 2015. "The Impact of Income and Non-Income Shocks on Child Labor: Evidence from a Panel Survey of Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 218-237.
    7. World Bank, 2013. "Republic of Senegal : Safety Net Assessment [République du Sénégal : Évaluation des Filets Sociaux]," World Bank Publications - Reports 17575, The World Bank Group.
    8. Kofol, Chiara & Naghsh Nejad, Maryam, 2017. "Child Labor and the Arrival of Refugees: Evidence from Tanzania," IZA Discussion Papers 11242, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Burrone, Sara & Giannelli, Gianna Claudia, 2019. "Does Child Labor Lead to Vulnerable Employment in Adulthood? Evidence for Tanzania," IZA Discussion Papers 12162, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Caroline Harper & Nicola Jones & Andy McKay, 2010. "Including Children in Policy Responses to Economic Crises," Working papers 1003, UNICEF,Division of Policy and Strategy.
    11. Delphine BOUTIN & Marine JOUVIN, 2022. "Child Labour Consequences on Education and Health: A Review of Evidence and Knowledge Gaps," Bordeaux Economics Working Papers 2022-14, Bordeaux School of Economics (BSE).
    12. Delphine Boutin & Marine Jouvin, 2022. "Child Labour Consequences on Education and Health: A Review of Evidence and Knowledge Gaps," Working Papers hal-03896700, HAL.
    13. DELPIERRE Matthieu & VERHEYDEN Bertrand & WEYNANTS Stéphanie, 2011. "On the interaction between risk-taking and risk-sharing under farm household wealth heterogeneity," LISER Working Paper Series 2011-35, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    14. Sofya Krutikova, 2010. "Who Gets to Stay in School? Long-run Impact of Income Shocks on Schooling in Rural Tanzania," Economics Series Working Papers CSAE WPS/2010-36, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    15. Aubrey Keeler Saunders & Samuel Brazys, 2022. "Does Distance Matter? Proximity to Exporting Firms on Child Labour and Education Rates: Evidence from Bangladesh," Working Papers 202206, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    16. Mussa, Essa Chanie & Mirzabaev, Alisher & Admassie, Assefa & Nshakira-Rukundo, Emmanuel & von Braun, Joachim, 2019. "Does childhood work impede long-term human capital accumulation? Empirical evidence from rural Ethiopia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 234-246.
    17. Ralitza Dimova & Gil S. Epstein & Ira N. Gang, 2015. "Migration, Transfers and Child Labor," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 735-747, August.
    18. 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.
    19. Ahsanuzzaman, & Islam, Muhammad Q., 2020. "Children’s vulnerability to natural disasters: Evidence from natural experiments in Bangladesh," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    20. THIVILLON, Thomas, 2022. "Demand for informal caregiving and human capital accumulation: Evidence from elderly deaths in Senegal," SocArXiv m8k6b, Center for Open Science.
    21. Esperanza Márquez & Daniel Holgado & Isidro Maya-Jariego, 2019. "Innovation, Dosage and Responsiveness in the Implementation of the Program “Edúcame Primero Perú” for Reducing Child Labour," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 14(3), pages 617-636, July.
    22. Salvucci, Vincenzo & Santos, Ricardo, 2020. "Vulnerability to Natural Shocks: Assessing the Short-Term Impact on Consumption and Poverty of the 2015 Flood in Mozambique," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    23. Buonomo Zabaleta, Mariela, 2011. "The impact of child labor on schooling outcomes in Nicaragua," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1527-1539.

    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. 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.
    2. Burrone, Sara & Giannelli, Gianna Claudia, 2019. "Does Child Labor Lead to Vulnerable Employment in Adulthood? Evidence for Tanzania," IZA Discussion Papers 12162, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Kathleen Beegle & Rajeev Dehejia & Roberta Gatti, 2009. "Why Should We Care About Child Labor?: The Education, Labor Market, and Health Consequences of Child Labor," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(4).
    4. Edmonds, Eric V., 2008. "Child Labor," Handbook of Development Economics, in: T. Paul Schultz & John A. Strauss (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 57, pages 3607-3709, Elsevier.
    5. Lee, Jieun & Kim, Hyoungjong & Rhee, Dong-Eun, 2021. "No harmless child labor: The effect of child labor on academic achievement in francophone Western and Central Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Michael P Keane & Sonya Krutikova & Timothy Neal, 2018. "The impact of child work on cognitive development: results from four Low to Middle Income countries," IFS Working Papers W18/29, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    7. Michael Keane & Sonya Krutikova & Timothy Neal, 2022. "Child work and cognitive development: Results from four low to middle income countries," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 13(2), pages 425-465, May.
    8. Bezerra, Márcio Eduardo G. & Kassouf, Ana Lucia & Arends-Kuenning, Mary P., 2009. "The Impact of Child Labor and School Quality on Academic Achievement in Brazil," IZA Discussion Papers 4062, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    9. Delphine BOUTIN & Marine JOUVIN, 2022. "Child Labour Consequences on Education and Health: A Review of Evidence and Knowledge Gaps," Bordeaux Economics Working Papers 2022-14, Bordeaux School of Economics (BSE).
    10. Claus Pörtner, 2016. "Effects of parental absence on child labor and school attendance in the Philippines," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 103-130, March.
    11. Wolff, François-Charles & Maliki, 2008. "Evidence on the impact of child labor on child health in Indonesia, 1993-2000," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 143-169, March.
    12. Putnick, Diane L. & Bornstein, Marc H., 2015. "Is child labor a barrier to school enrollment in low- and middle-income countries?," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 112-120.
    13. Delphine Boutin & Marine Jouvin, 2022. "Child Labour Consequences on Education and Health: A Review of Evidence and Knowledge Gaps," Working Papers hal-03896700, HAL.
    14. Connie Bayudan-Dacuycuy & Lawrence Dacuycuy, 2013. "Is schooling forever doomed with child labor around? An analysis using Philippine time use data," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 33(1), pages 138-151.
    15. Kimhi, Ayal, 2007. "Does Land Reform In Transition Countries Increase Child Labor? Evidence From The Republic Of Georgia," Discussion Papers 7147, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Agricultural Economics and Management.
    16. Jinnat Ara & Dipanwita Sarkar & Jayanta Sarkar, 2021. "Like mother like daughter? Occupational mobility among children under asset transfer program in Bangladesh," QuBE Working Papers 061, QUT Business School.
    17. Oryoie, Ali Reza & Alwang, Jeffrey & Tideman, Nicolaus, 2017. "Child Labor and Household Land Holding: Theory and Empirical Evidence from Zimbabwe," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 45-58.
    18. Ana Dammert, 2010. "Siblings, child labor, and schooling in Nicaragua and Guatemala," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(1), pages 199-224, January.
    19. Sofya Krutikova, 2010. "Who Gets to Stay in School? Long-run Impact of Income Shocks on Schooling in Rural Tanzania," Economics Series Working Papers CSAE WPS/2010-36, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    20. 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).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Street Children; Youth and Governance; Labor Policies; Labor Markets; Children and Youth;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wbrwps:4677. 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.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.