Child labour and poverty linkages: A micro analysis from rural Malawian data

Chiwaula, Levison/S (2009): Child labour and poverty linkages: A micro analysis from rural Malawian data. Forthcoming in: African Economic Research Consortium Research Paper

Abstract

This study assesses the impact of income and asset poverty on child work using the rural sub-sample of the 2004 Malawi Integrated Household Survey. Instrumenting consumption expenditure with a location dummy variable and interacting consumption expenditure with household land-holding size in probit models, the likelihood of child labour is found to relate negatively with household consumption. On the other hand child labour relates positively with household land-holding size for consumption poor households only and when labour markets are imperfect. These findings do not discourage asset accumulation policies as a remedy against child labour but support policies that aim at increasing returns on the assets.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Child labour, Poverty, Assets, Malawi
• Subjects: H - Public Economics > H3 - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents > H31 - Household; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I31 - General Welfare, Well-Being; C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods > C3 - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models ; Multiple Variables > C35 - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models ; Discrete Regressors ; Proportions

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