Abstract

An estimated 158 million children aged 5-14 are engaged in child labor which translates to one in six children in the world (Unicef, 2010). Millions of children are engaged in hazardous situations or conditions, such as working in mines, working with chemicals and pesticides in agriculture, or working with dangerous machinery. Children are toiling as domestic servants in homes, laboring behind the walls of workshops, hidden from view in plantations (Unicef, 2010). The reason behind child labor is poverty and lack of resources in the household, which leads to parents choosing not to invest in the education of their child. A potential factor influencing the decision to put child in a labor market is the birth-order of the child. This paper presents a theoretical framework by looking at the decision of poor-households to invest in the education of their children or put them into the labor force. The human capital model will be used to explain the decision process of the household. It then uses data from India for the empirical analysis. The ordinal logistic regression model is used to test if birth-order effects have a negative impact on the activity of the child. The results in the paper confirm that birth-order effects can play a key role when a household is deciding the future activity of their child.

Advisor

Moledina, Amyaz A.

Department

Economics

Publication Date

2010

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2010 Sonam Vij