Is Child Labor Harmful? The Impact of Working Earlier in Life on Adult Earnings

Patrick Emerson () and André Souza

No 3027, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper explores the question: is working as a child harmful to an individual in terms of adult outcomes in earnings? Though an extremely important question, little is known about the effect of child labor on adult outcomes. Estimations of an instrumental variables earnings model on data from Brazil show that child labor has a large negative impact on adult earnings for male children even when controlling for schooling and that the negative impact of starting to work as a child reverses at around ages 12-14.

Keywords: adult outcomes; Brazil; child labor (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J31 O12 O54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 55 pages
Date: 2007-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Published - published in: Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2011, 59 (2), 345 - 385

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Journal Article: Is Child Labor Harmful? The Impact of Working Earlier in Life on Adult Earnings (2011)
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