Explaining variation in child labor statistics

Andrew Dillon, Elena Bardasi, Kathleen Beegle and Pieter Serneels

Journal of Development Economics, 2012, vol. 98, issue 1, 136-147

Abstract: Child labor statistics are critical for assessing the extent and nature of child labor activities in developing countries. In practice, widespread variation exists in how child labor is measured. Questionnaire modules vary across countries and within countries over time along several dimensions, including respondent type and the structure of the questionnaire. Little is known about the effect of these differences on child labor statistics. This paper presents the results from a randomized survey experiment in Tanzania focusing on two survey design choices: different questionnaire design to classify children work and proxy response versus self-reporting. Use of a short module compared with a more detailed questionnaire has a statistically significant effect, especially on child labor force participation rates, and, to a lesser extent, on working hours. Proxy reports do not differ significantly from a child's self-report. Further analysis demonstrates that survey design choices affect the coefficient estimates of some determinants of child labor in a child labor supply equation. The results suggest that low-cost changes to questionnaire design will potentially clarify the concept of work for respondents.

Keywords: Child labor; Survey design; Tanzania (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C81 C93 J21 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (37)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387811000599
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
Working Paper: Explaining Variation in Child Labor Statistics (2010)
Working Paper: Explaining variation in child labor statistics (2010)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:98:y:2012:i:1:p:136-147

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2011.06.002

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Development Economics is currently edited by M. R. Rosenzweig

More articles in Journal of Development Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().