Remittances and Child Labour in Africa: Evidence from Burkina Faso

Olivier Bargain and Delphine Boutin

No 8007, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper explores the effects of remittance receipt on child labour in an African context. We focus on Burkina Faso, a country with a high prevalence of child labour and a high rate of migration. Given the complex relationship between remittance receipt and household time allocation decisions, we instrument remittances using economic conditions in remittance-sending countries and explore heterogeneous effects across different types of potential remitters. While remittances have no significant effect on child labour on average, transfers reduce child labour in long-term migrant households, for whom the disruptive effect of migration is no longer felt. We find no gender difference but remittances seem to affect mainly the labour market participation of younger children.

Keywords: child labour; remittances; migration; Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F24 I25 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2014-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-dem, nep-dev, nep-int and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published - published as 'Remittance Effects on Child Labour: Evidence from Burkina Faso' in: Journal of Development Studies, 2015, 51 (7), 922-938

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