Is child labor inefficient?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Baland, JM; Robinson, JA
• 署名单位: University of Namur; University of California System; University of California Berkeley
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/316097
• 发表日期: 2000
• 页码: 663-679
• 关键词: fertility; FAMILY

摘要

We build a model of child labor and study its implications for welfare. We assume that there is a trade-off between child labor and the accumulation of human capital. Even if parents are altruistic and child labor is socially inefficient, it may arise in equilibrium because parents Fail to fully internalize its negative effects, This occurs when bequests are zero or when capital markers are imperfect. We also study the effects of a simple ban on child labor and derive conditions under which it may be Pareto improving in general equilibrium. We show that the implications of child labor for fertility are ambiguous.