Empirical evidence suggests that use of child labor as domestic help has increased significantly in recent years although the overall incidence of child labor across the globe has declined satisfactorily. This should draw the attention of economists and policymakers because domestic child labor is considered as exploitative and in many cases hazardous. This paper purports to explain this apparently perplexing finding theoretically in terms of a three-sector general equilibrium model with a nontraded sector where only child labor is used to render services to the richer section of the society. The analysis shows how FDI-led economic growth increases the size of the services sector although it lowers the overall incidence of child labor in the economy and improves the welfare of the poor families that supply child labor. Finally, a composite policy has been recommended that can deal with all three aspects favorably. © 2016 John Wiley &amp; Sons Ltd

SARBAJIT CHOWDHURY

Economics

J K DWIBEDI

University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University or CU) is a collegiate public state university located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.&nbsp;Within India it is recognized as a &quot;Five-Star University&quot; and accredited &quot;A&quot; Grade by National Assessment and Accreditation Council.

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The University of Calcutta has secured the Fifth position among the Universities of India in the prestigious &quot;Indian University Ranking 2019&quot; list, released by the NIRF of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India.

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It was established on 24 January 1857, and was one of the first institutions in Asia to be established as a multidisciplinary and Western-style university. Its alumni and faculty include several heads of state, heads of government, social reformers, prominent artists, only academy award winner and Dirac medal winner in India, many Fellows of the Royal Society and five Nobel laureates as of 2019 which is highest in South Asia.

University Of Calcutta

Review of Development Economics

Children in poor countries are subjected to exploitation characterized by low wages and long hours of work, as well as by unclean, unhygienic and unsafe working and living conditions, and, more importantly, by deprivation from education, all of which hampers their physical and mental development. Child labour is a complex issue, and clearly it has no simple solution. This book sheds some understanding of its root causes. The book attempts to delve into many of the important theoretical aspects of child labour and suggests policies that could indeed be useful in dealing with the problem under diverse situations using alternative multisector general equilibrium models. © 2017 Sarbajit Chaudhuri and Jayanta Kumar Dwibedi. All rights reserved.

The Economics of Child Labour in the Era of Globalization: Policy issues

The economics of child labour in the era of globalization: Policy issues

We provide a theoretical explanation why agricultural subsidy policies are likely to fail to ensure simultaneous eradication of the incidence of child labour and improvement in the well-being of the poor working families in terms of a three-sector general equilibrium model with child labour and agricultural dualism. We identify both demand and supply side effects of any policy intervention on child labour. We also suggest two alternative policies, a scheme of direct cash transfer to poor people and economic growth through foreign direct investment (FDI), both of which would be effective in achieving these twin objectives of a welfare government. © 2014 University of Venice.

Fulltext

Research in Economics

Agricultural subsidy policies fail to deal with child labour under agricultural dualism: What could be the alternative policies?

The present paper purports to examine the consequence of a mid-day meal program and/or cash stipend scheme on the incidence of child labour in a developing economy using a three-sector general equilibrium model. It has been found that the policy may be counterproductive as it lowers both the initial incomes of the working families and the return on education. Direct cash payments to the working families instead of a mid-day meal program are likely to be effective in eradicating the problem of child labour. © 2009 The Author. Journal compilation © 2009 Japanese Economic Association.

Japanese Economic Review

Mid-day meal program and incidence of child labour in a developing economy

Empirical evidence suggests that the incidence of child labour taken as a whole has declined in the developing countries with economic growth due to foreign capital. But, in some high-growth-prone areas, the problem has been on the rise. A pertinent question is why liberalized investment policies have produced dissimilar results in different cases. The present paper is intended to provide an answer to the above question using a three-sector general equilibrium framework with two informal sectors and a non-traded final commodity. The paper is also designed to investigate the efficacy of an education subsidy policy and a lump-sum tax on the richer people in controlling the problem of child labour. We find that the effects of different policies on child labour crucially hinge on the relative intensities in which child labour and adult labour are used in the two informal sectors. However, we find that on the whole a policy of subsidy on education is more effective in comparison with the policy of economic growth with foreign capital in eradicating the prevalence of the evil in the system. © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and The University of Manchester.

Manchester School

Foreign capital inflow, fiscal policies and incidence of child labour in a developing economy

This paper is an attempt to analyse the consequence of trade liberalization in agriculture in the developed countries on the incidence of child labour in a developing economy in terms of a three-sector general equilibrium model with informal sectors. Adult labour and child labour are substitutes for each other in the two informal sectors of the economy and are used together apart from capital in producing two exportable commodities. The interesting result that appears from the analysis is that agricultural trade liberalization in the developed countries may be effective in bringing down the incidence of child labour in the system. The paper substantiates the desirability of trade liberalization in agriculture in the developed nations from the perspective of the developing economies for reasons other than welfare improvement. © Blackwell Publishers Ltd and the Board of Trustees of the Bulletin of Economic Research, 2006.

Bulletin of Economic Research

Trade liberalization in agriculture in developed nations and incidence of child labour in a developing economy

The paper analyses the implications of trade liberalization on the incidence of child labour in a two-sector general equilibrium framework. The supply function of child labour has been derived from the utility-maximizing behaviour of the working families. The paper finds that the effect of trade liberalization on the incidence of child labour crucially hinges on the relative factor intensities of the two sectors. © Japanese Economic Association 2004.

Journal	Review of Development Economics
Publisher	Blackwell Publishing Ltd
ISSN	1363-6669