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This chapter introduces the measures of working conditions and labor rights that are the focus of the book and shows how labor conditions changed in the late 20th century. The key working conditions are pay, hours of work, and workplace health and safety. The four key labor rights (emphasized in policy discussions by international organizations) are freedom of association, nondiscrimination, abolition of forced labor, and reduction of child labor. Evidence presented in this chapter shows that measures of these working conditions and labor rights improved during the late 20th century, a period of increased international economic integration. The data also show that countries that are open to international trade have superior labor conditions.

This essay discusses why fertility is high in many developing countries; why it declines with economic development; why the institution of child labor facilitates high fertility; and why high fertility is intimately tied to the extent of female autonomy in decision making. It then discusses the reasons for the biased sex ratio at birth alluded to above. It concludes with suggestions for policy measures that will address the problems identified.

This final chapter summarizes the findings of the earlier analyses of the impact of globalization on labor conditions and considers the principles that should inform future policies to improve labor conditions. Broadly speaking, the evidence indicates that international trade, international migration, and the activities of multinational companies generally advance working conditions and labor rights around the world. In contrast, some policy proposals, such as the use of trade sanctions against countries that do not adopt international labor standards, are likely to worsen rather than improve labor conditions. A very useful guide to policy choice is to favor policies that expand, rather than contract, opportunities for target groups. The chapter reviews a number of targeted incentive policies that satisfy this principle in general and in particular areas such as child labor and forced labor.

This chapter explores the responsibility of corporations regarding child labour. This exploration is done at two levels. First, selected regulatory regimes are reviewed to ascertain the corporate responsibility outlined therein. Under international law generally, the responsibility in relation to human/labour rights was traditionally and primarily conceived with reference to states. This state-focal nature, though, seems to be undergoing a change in recent years. For example, more importance is now being given to states' duty to ensure that non-state actors within their respective jurisdictions comply with the goal of eliminating child labour. In addition to this indirect approach, responsibility for child labour is also being directly imposed on corporations. Second, at a normative level, the notion of responsibility is analysed with reference to the idea of being ‘responsive’ to the state of child labour. ‘Responsiveness’ is contrasted with ‘responsibility’ in that the former focuses more on strategy and action rather than outlining what duties corporations have on a given issue.

This introductory chapter begins with a brief discussion of child labour as a global problem and changes in policies regarding child labour. It then lays out the purpose of the book, which is to synthesize a discussion on the key causes and consequences of child labour in the early 21st century. These are discussed in terms of the individual child, as well as the wider context of the family and community.

The responsibility for child labour is often cast as resting with (exploitative) employers. This creates a demand for legislation that bars employers from employing children. However, a careful look at household survey data suggests that the majority of employers are parents and, when not, parents have volunteered the child for work. This chapter focuses on the majority case of children working to help the family survive. It briefly discusses the role of legislation in curbing child labour, while arguing that it is not a substitute for efforts directed at creating income-generating opportunities amongst the poor and improving their access to education. Even when legislation is effective in lowering the incidence of child labour, it remains relevant to consider where children removed from the labour market go, which is why so much of the emphasis in the contemporary development literature is on education.

This chapter explores the normative issues posed by child labor. The first section briefly considers the conceptual problems of defining who is a child for the purposes of identifying child labor. The second section explores several considerations that make child labor morally problematic, considerations that turn on all four of the parameters presented in chapter 4: weak agency, vulnerability, and extreme harm to the individual child and to society. Guided by these considerations, the author defends a position distinct from both those who argue that all child labor should be abolished immediately and those who argue that we must accommodate it.

This chapter provides an overview of child labour data by discussing the historical context of data on children's work; available child labour data definitions; methodologies and sources; global estimates on children's work and some discussion on how data collection will be improved in the near future. The growth and development of statistical data collection on child labour has had many positive results, it has at last become possible to monitor accurately trends in child labour and the impact of policies and programmes to address child labour. Perhaps more importantly, the publication of accurate child labour statistics has assisted greatly in harnessing public and political support to reduce the negative consequences of children working.

The link between child labour and health is difficult to disentangle because of problems due to two-way causality, household and individual level unobservables. Aims to establish whether there is a negative health impact of work during childhood controlling for observable and unobservable confounding factors. As far as we are aware, we are the first to take account these confounding factors in a study of the health effects of child work. That is made possible by the use of a particularly rich two-wave panel data set, the 1992/3 and 1997/8 Vietnam Living Standards Surveys, and of the retrospective information contained in the 2000 Guatemalan National Survey on Living Conditions (NSLC).

This chapter analyses the incidence of child labour in India, a significant indicator of underdevelopment. It breaks new ground in analysing the impact of liberalization on the incidence of child labour, by taking into account the growth-induced demand for child labour. Analysis of the data on child labour produced by the NSS for the years 1993–4 and 2004–5 suggests that whilst increased incomes of parents has reduced the incidence of child labour in most states of India, though not in all of them, growth-induced demand may have increased the incidence of child labour. The main message of the chapter is that policies designed to reduce child labour should take into consideration the demand-side impact on child labour and should not be lulled into complacency in the knowledge that growth of incomes will reduce the supply of children to the labour market.

Contains the building blocks of the subsequent theoretical analysis. Kaushik Basu’s model of the market for adult-equivalent labour explains child labour essentially as a consequence of binding subsistence requirements. Gary Becker’s dynastic model explains fertility decisions, and transfers from parents to children, as a consequence of altruism. The present authors explain fertility decisions, and transfers between parents and children, with the possible existence of self-enforcing family constitutions. In all three models, child labour (transfers to children) can be inefficiently high (low).

Parental decisions regarding the allocation between school and work of the time of school-age children, and about the accumulation of human capital and conventional assets, are crucially affected by asset and credit market conditions, and by the marginal return to education. Child bonding, and the apparent paradox of school-age children who neither work nor attend school are explained within the same theoretical framework. The analysis is essentially positive, but provides the elements for a normative judgement.

Brings theoretical arguments and empirical evidence to the effect that international trade may reduce child labour in countries endowed with a comparatively well educated labour force, and increase it elsewhere. Lowering trade barriers can thus help reduce child labour only if educational and other policies have created the right initial conditions. An international ban on goods produced with child labour can be effective if it is applied on a multilateral basis, and accompanied by compensatory payments to the countries exporting such goods.

This chapter discusses globalisation and the export sector of India, looking at employment and economic growth in the country. It starts with a study of the rise of small-scale industries, which are part of the fastest expanding sector in India. Merchant producerism and cheap labour is discussed, followed by globalisation and social audits. Child labour, contract labour, the absent present worker, and overtime are some of the topics discussed as well. Finally, the chapter ends by determining whether globalisation has made a difference in the economy of India.

This chapter focuses on the training and work of dependent unmarried women — that is, female offspring living at home and female servants living in the household of their masters — in the pre-industrial German society under analysis in this book. It explores the nature and determinants of their education, gender-specific maturation patterns, the relative demand for dependent labour by households with different characteristics, and the numbers, wage-rates, and geographical distribution of servants. It then uses a database of work observations extracted from church-court records to analyse gender-specific patterns of work by female offspring and servants, and to compare them with those of other females (and males). It concludes with a discussion of the factors constraining the economic choices of dependent unmarried females, including the impact of ‘social capital’.

Public health is important in the child labour discussion for more reasons than just the consequences of child labour. The morbidity and mortality of caregivers and earners may be central in understanding how children end up in dangerous or exploitive conditions. This chapter outlines how public health issues enter into the economics of child labour. It examines both how public health influences child labour and how child labour influences child health. It begins by reviewing the state of economic research on why children work.