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We study the relationship between child work and cognitive development in four Low and Middle Income Countries. We address a key weakness in the literature by including children’s full time-use vector in the analysis, which leads to different findings from previous studies which do not distinguish between alternative counter-factual activities. We find child work is only detrimental if it crowds out school/study time rather than leisure. Furthermore, the marginal effects of substituting domestic chores or economic activities for school/study time are similar. Thus, policies to enhance child development should target a shift from all forms of work toward educational activities.
Authors
Deputy Research Director
Sonya Krutikova is an Associate Professor of Economics at Manchester University and IFS Deputy Research Director.
Research Associate John Hopkins Carey Business School
Michael Keane is a Wm. Polk Carey Distinguished Professor at the John Hopkins Carey Business School.
Timothy Neal
Working Paper details
- DOI
- 10.1920/wp.ifs.2018.2918
- Publisher
- The IFS
Suggested citation
M, Keane and S, Krutikova and T, Neal. (2018). The impact of child work on cognitive development: results from four Low to Middle Income countries. London: The IFS. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/impact-child-work-cognitive-development-results-four-low-middle-income-countries (accessed: 29 March 2024).
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