CHILD LABOR AND SCHOOL ENROLLMENT IN RURAL INDIA: WHOSE EDUCATION MATTERS?

This paper empirically analyzes the determinants of child labor and school enrollment in rural Andhra Pradesh, India. A village fixed‐effect logit model for each child is estimated with the incidence of child labor or school enrollment as the dependent variable, in order to investigate individual and household characteristics associated with the incidence. Among the determinants, this paper focuses on whose education matters most in deciding the status of each child, an issue not previously investigated in the context of the joint family system. The regression results show that the education of the child's mother is more important in reducing child labor and in increasing school enrollment than that of the child's father, the household head, or the spouse of the head. The effect of the child's mother is similar on boys and girls while that of the child's father is more favorable on boys.     

Gender and Competition between Economic or Non‐economic Labor and Schooling: Evidence from EPAM Mali

Abstract: We use the Understanding Children's Work (UCW) definition of child labor and data from the Mali Permanent Household Survey to highlight the gender difference in the competition between economic or non‐economic labor and schooling. A quadri‐variate Probit estimation allows to account for the interdependency between school and various kinds of labor: household chores (HHC), market‐oriented (MO) activities and non‐market‐oriented (NMO) activities. Empirical results provide interesting findings, including differential gender socialization according to the gender of the offspring, gender bias in repartition of tasks and time, and competition between labor activities and schooling.     

Rural–urban differences in parental spending on children's primary education in Malawi

Using Malawian data, this paper answers two interrelated questions: are there rural–urban differences in the factors that influence the probability that a household spends or does not spend on own children's education; and are there rural–urban differences in the factors that affect educational expenditure if a household decides to spend? Computed elasticities indicate that spending on education by rural households is more sensitive to changes in income compared with urban households, suggesting that spending on education in rural areas is a luxury good. In both areas, a mother's employment and education has a larger impact on spending compared with those of a father. Urban households compared with their rural counterparts are more sensitive to the quality of access to primary schools. We find no evidence of gender bias in school spending in urban areas, but rural households exhibit bias in favour of boys.     

Gender gap in school enrolment among youth in Lesotho

This article uses data from the 1996 population census of Lesotho and the Ministry of Education's annual reports compiled during the period 1990–9 to investigate the trend of the gap between male and female enrolment in schools and higher learning institutions. The study examines various education indicators, school enrolment and dropout rates. There is no doubt that the gender gap still exists in Lesotho in favour of females. Both the cohort analysis and the analysis of dropout rates have shown that there is gender imbalance in schooling. In addition, the analysis has shown that the gender gap has recently started to narrow in primary, secondary and high schools but is widening at tertiary level. The article recommends that the government of Lesotho should look closely at the issue of the disadvantaged ‘boy child’ if it intends to eliminate gender disparities in schools.     

Gender Differences in Schooling in Indonesia

Despite almost universal primary education in Indonesia, and increasing female educational participation, gender differences remain in access to Indonesian education. This paper attempts to measure and explain these differences at primary and secondary level in Indonesia's provinces between 1980 and 1985. It examines the relationship between provincial school enrolment ratios for males and females and four factors: school availability, formal sector employment, ‘drop-out’ patterns and marriage patterns. School availability is found to be a strong predictor of enrolment levels, and stronger for females than for males. Relationships between enrolment patterns and the other three factors appear less clear cut.     

Parental Education and child Nutrition in Indonesia

This study uses 1989 Susenas household data to examine the impact of parental education on pre-school children's nutritional status, as measured by weight-for-age Z-scores. Reduced form regressions are estimated separately for boys and girls in rural and urban areas; explanatory variables include mother's and household head's education; per capita household expenditure; and aspects of the household sanitary environment. The analysis controls for influence of unobserved heterogeneity at village level, e.g. differences in prices and medical service provision. The estimates show a significant effect of parental schooling on child health status, varying between urban and rural areas, and by child gender and age. Mothers with secondary education typically have healthier boys than those with less schooling, while this effect is seen for girls only if the mother has more than secondary education. Maternal schooling significantly affects 2–5 year olds' health, but has little direct effect on that of younger children.     

Human Capital and Hours Worked of Children in Cambodia: Empirical Evidence for Policy Implications*

This study uses data from the Cambodian Child Labor Survey 2001/02 (CCLS‐2001/02) to investigate the trade‐off between child labor and their human capital formation. It also investigates the determinants of child schooling and that of the income earned from child labor. This study finds that children's education is a significant determinant of their wage rate, which implicitly explains the logic behind the household's decision to allow a child to both work and study, and thus explains why parents keep investing in their children's education. We also find that non‐poor households and fathers’ and mothers’ education have statistically significant effects on child schooling. Finally, this study has found that if children's average working hours are below the threshold level of 22 h per week, then education is not affected. These research findings have policy implications for the human capital development of children, as well as for broader social policy in Cambodia.     

Une modélisation des déterminants des décisions de scolarisation primaire des ménages au Sénégal

Abstract: This study describes enrolment rates and constructs an econometric model for primary education demand in Senegal, relying on the results of the QUID survey realized in 2001. A sequential probit model is constructed to explain the different choices made by the households in relation to their children's education, namely: decision to enrol or not, choice of the type of school (public or private schools, if private, religious or secular schools), decision to allow the children to attain the last grade or not. A dozen of explanatory variables relating to children and households’ characteristics and availability of education supply, are retained in this model. Simulations based on the model estimation results show the discrimination endured by rural children compared to urban ones whatever their gender, and by girls relative to boys, in terms of the probability distribution of the dependant variable of the model.     

Inequality of Opportunity in China's Labor Earnings: The Gender Dimension

This paper investigates the inequality of opportunity in China's labor earnings, defined as the component of inequality determined by personal circumstances that lie beyond the control of an individual, of which gender is one, as opposed to the component determined by personal efforts. Using the Survey of Women's Social Status in China (2010), we measure the share of inequality of opportunity in the total inequality of individual labor earnings for people aged 26–55 years, and separately for six birth cohorts and for female and male subsamples. Gender is revealed as the single most important circumstance determining nationwide individual labor earnings, with one's region of residence, father's occupation, father's education, birth cohort and holding rural or urban hukou also playing significant roles. A further investigation into the roles of circumstances and personal efforts (including education level, occupation, Communist Party membership, migration and marital status) confirms that circumstances play an alarmingly high role in shaping labor earnings distribution in China, and reveals notable gender differences that cannot be attributed to personal effort alone. These results provide the basis for recommending ways to improve gender equality of opportunity in the future.     

Who cares for children? A quantitative study of childcare in South Africa

In this study we investigate the gender division of labour in the physical and financial care of children in South Africa, in the context of large race differences in rates of union formation and parent–child co-residence. Using national micro-data, we show that across a variety of household forms, women are the primary caregivers of children even when they are not a child’s biological mother. Women are also more likely to provide physical care than men are to provide financial support for children’s schooling. However, this gender imbalance is far larger in the case of African children, the majority of whom do not live with their father. For most African children, both their physical and financial care is provided by women who are typically the child’s biological mother, but also the child’s grandmother or another female relative.     

The Persistence of Dominant‐Firm Market Share: Raising Rivals' Cost on the New York Stock Exchange

To explain the persistence of dominant New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) market share in stock trading of listed securities from 1992 to 2002, we develop a dominant‐firm price leadership model and hypothesize that NYSE specialists raised the costs of rival market makers. The model predicts that natural and induced cost advantages will determine the NYSE's market share vis‐à‐vis the regional exchanges, electronic trading systems, and NASDAQ dealers. Empirically, NYSE market share increases with economies of scale and scope, abnormal price volatility, high asymmetric information, and with trading practices that raise rivals' costs, such as failure to display limit orders that bettered the existing quotes.     

Impact of Outward Foreign Direct Investment on Domestic R&D Activity: Evidence from Taiwan's Multinational Enterprises in Low‐wage Countries

This paper theoretically and empirically investigates the home‐country effects of a firm's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) activity, specifically OFDI motivated by lower labor costs in the host country. A two‐country imperfect competition model is developed, and the interaction between a firm's R&D spending and its OFDI is examined. It is found that the relationship between a firm's OFDI and its domestic R&D is indeterminate because there is a complementary effect as well as a substitution effect induced by OFDI activity. Panel data on Taiwanese manufacturing firms from 1992–2005 are applied to test the validity of the theoretical results. The propensity score matching method is used to construct a comparison group without selection bias. Our empirical evidence reveals that a Taiwanese firm's OFDI is positively related to its domestic R&D spending, particularly in R&D‐intensive industries.     

Determinants of Indonesian rural secondary school enrolment: gender,neighbourhood and school characteristics

In recent years the school enrolment rates of children aged 13–15 and 16–18 years have increased sharply in Indonesia, not only in urban but also in rural areas. Using various data sets spanning the years from 1993 to 2007, this paper investigates changes in factors associated with the enrolment of secondary school aged children in rural areas. It sheds light on the roles of gender and of neighbourhood and school characteristics, which have rarely been examined in the Indonesian context. The study finds that the disappearance of a gender gap in secondary enrolments between 1993 and 2007 contributed significantly to the rise in the overall enrolment rate. The findings also show that children living in wealthier communities and communities with a high proportion of enrolled children are more likely to attend school. Finally, various school characteristics are shown not to be strongly or consistently correlated with school enrolment.     

Is There any Threshold in the Relationship Between Mother's Education and Child Health? Evidence from Nigeria

The literature on mother's education and child health casually observes some nonlinearities and also a threshold in the relationship. Even though this nonlinearity or threshold has significant bearing on policy matters such as quality of education, any rigorous attempt to address this issue is missing in the literature. With height for age z‐score as a proxy for long‐run child health capital, regression results reveal that there are significant effects of mother's education on child health if mothers do not continue past primary school. Rather, poor quality of education at the primary level, especially literacy, is argued to have given rise to this threshold. It indicates that greater public investment in improving quality of education at the primary level is essential for maximizing the nonmarket outcomes of girls’ education in developing countries.     

The Role of Off‐Farm Labor Participation Decisions of Married Farm Couples on Farm Direct Marketing in Taiwan

Direct marketing from farm producers to consumers has been seen as a viable business option to increase farm income. This study investigates the factors that determine a farm's direct marketing decisions; special attention is paid to understanding the correlation between farm couples' off‐farm labor participation and the farm's adoption of direct marketing strategies. A nationally representative dataset of 3,670 married family farm couples in Taiwan is used as an illustration. A multiple choice treatment effect model is estimated to cope with endogeneity bias. The results indicate a significant association between farm couples' off‐farm labor decisions and the farm's adoption of direct marketing strategies. Moreover, gender difference is evident: farm husband's (wife's) off‐farm work is positively (negatively) associated with the farm's direct marketing decision.     

Gender earnings gap among the youth in Malawi

While young women's engagement in economic activities is an essential component of development, gender gaps are still commonly observed worldwide and especially in developing countries like Malawi. This study introduces recent data to provide new evidence for a sub‐Saharan country that has yet been closely examined. Using the International Labour Organization's School‐to‐Work Transition Survey (ILO SWTS) individual‐level data, I examine the gender earnings gap among the youth in Malawi by conducting Mincer earnings regressions with Heckman selection correction and applying Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition methods. I find that young women in Malawi earn significantly less than young men and that women are significantly less likely to engage in income‐generating work activities. Also, substantial unadjusted gender earnings difference in Malawi is overwhelmingly due to differences in returns. Moreover, detailed decomposition results show that gender differences in work‐related individual characteristics and firm characteristics also contribute to the gender earnings gap. The results suggest that any effort to reduce the gender earnings gap should involve improved access to education as well as better workplaces for women.     

Where have all the brides gone? Son preference and marriage in India over the twentieth century

Marriage is universal for women in India, but the marriage rate for men varies across regions, where the region is a proxy for shared cultural norms. A preference for sons results in a biased sex ratio towards men and creates a shortage of brides in the marriage market. Using the Indian census of 1931, the article finds that son preference was a regional phenomenon and led to a low marriage rate for men. Using caste‐level information, the article finds no evidence that men from the upper castes enjoyed an advantage in the marriage market as the theoretical literature predicts. The regional differences in gender bias and marriage market outcomes have persisted over the twentieth century and indicate the persistence of cultural values. The long‐run changes show that the marriage squeeze has reduced the surplus of men in all regions; however, the regional differences in son preference and marriage outcomes were still the same in 2001.     

The Economic Effects of Integration in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community: Some General Equilibrium Estimates for Cameroon

In this paper we quantitatively assess the impact of the CEMAC on its largest member, Cameroon. We find that Cameroon will gain between 0.41 and 0.62 percent of its GDP. Our decomposition shows that the part of the agreement that calls for further preferential reduction of tariffs is immiserizing, although given the low level of intra‐regional imports, the quantitative impact is quite small. Improved access to partner country markets accounts for about one‐quarter of the gains. We find, however, that about three‐quarters of the gains come from reduction of Cameroon’s tariff against the rest of the world. Moreover, our estimates for Cameroon’s unilateral trade liberalization show that it can gain marginally even more from full unilateral trade liberalization than it can from implementation of the CEMAC arrangements. Our results incorporate, in an otherwise small open economy model, the fact that Cameroon may possess regional market power, and we assess the difference in results with models that have no regional market power. Dans cet article, nous évaluons quantitativement l’impact de la CEMAC sur son pays membre le plus important par son poids économique: le Cameroun. Nos estimations indiquent que le Cameroun enregistrera un gain compris entre 0,41% et 0,62% de son PIB. La décomposition de cet impact montre que l’approfondissement des préférences tarifaires réduit le bien‐être, même si compte tenu du faible niveau des importations intra‐régionales, son impact quantitatif apparaît assez faible. L’amélioration de l’accès aux marchés des partenaires régionaux explique environ un quart des gains. Cependant, environ trois quarts des gains sont expliqués par la réduction par le Cameroun de ses tarifs vis‐à‐vis du reste du monde. De plus, nos estimations indiquent qu’àla marge, le Cameroun gagnerait plus d’une libéralisation commerciale unilatérale que de la mise en oeuvre des accords de la CEMAC. Nos résultats incorporent dans ce qui est par ailleurs un modèle d’une petite économie ouverte, le fait que le Cameroun puisse posséder un pouvoir de marché régional, et nous comparons les résultats àceux des modèles sans pouvoir de marché régional.     

British working‐class household composition,labour supply,and commercial leisure participation during the 1930s

The early twentieth century constituted the heyday of the ‘breadwinner–homemaker’ household, characterized by a high degree of intra‐household functional specialization between paid and domestic work according to age, gender, and marital status. This article examines the links between formal workforce participation and access to resources for individualized discretionary spending in British working‐class households during the late 1930s, via an analysis of household leisure expenditures. Leisure spending is particularly salient to intra‐household resource allocation, as it constitutes one of the most highly prioritized areas of individualized expenditure, especially for young, single people. Using a database compiled from surviving returns to the Ministry of Labour's national 1937/8 working‐class expenditure survey, we examine leisure participation rates for over 600 households, using a detailed set of commercial leisure activities together with other relevant variables. We find that the employment status of family members other than the male breadwinner was a key factor influencing their access to commercial leisure. Our analysis thus supports the view that the breadwinner–homemaker household was characterized by strong power imbalances that concentrated resources—especially for individualized expenditures—in the hands of those family members who engaged in paid labour.     

女性家庭地位上升、生育率差异与工资不平等

文章通过把女性生育率和劳动力市场性别歧视内生化,为理解工资不平等的发展趋势提供了新的视角。研究表明,随着女性家庭地位上升和生育率下降,企业性别歧视程度降低,于是工资不平等将受女性技术工人和非技术工人生育率差异的影响。如果生育率差异扩大,那么技能溢价将上升。当性别工资差距可以影响女性家庭地位时,生育率下降将扩大女性家庭地位对技能溢价的影响。这一影响机制在关于我国农民工调查数据的实证研究中得到了验证。