International Labor Standards and the Political Economy of Child Labor Regulation

Matthias Doepke () and Fabrizio Zilibotti ()
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Fabrizio Zilibotti: University of Zurich

No 3742, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Abstract: Child labor is a persistent phenomenon in many developing countries. In recent years, support has been growing among rich-country governments and consumer groups for the use of trade policies, such as product boycotts and the imposition of international labor standards, to reduce child labor in poor countries. In this paper, we discuss research on the long-run implications of such policies. In particular, we demonstrate that such measures may have the unintended side effect of lowering domestic support for banning child labor within developing countries, and thus may contribute to the persistence of the child-labor problem.

Keywords: child labor; political economy; international labor standards; trade sanctions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J20 J88 O10 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-lab and nep-pol
Date: 2008-10
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Forthcoming in: Journal of the European Economic Association, 2009

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Related works:
Working Paper: International Labor Standards and the Political Economy of Child Labor Regulation (2009)
Journal Article: International Labor Standards and the Political Economy of Child-Labor Regulation (2009)
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