Determinants of Poverty Status in Rwanda

This study finds determinants of poverty status using the 2010–11 Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey (EICV3) and suggests policy implications for poverty reduction in Rwanda. Characteristics of households related to poverty status are considered in an ordered probit model and marginal effects are calculated. Policies towards supporting a female household, controlling the birthrate of a household and alleviating regional disparity, especially with a focus on rural areas and the Southern Province will be effective. In addition, supporting farmers who do not own a farm and increasing vocational programmes may be also helpful for poverty reduction in Rwanda. Expanding the land use consolidation programme with a facilitating food market may be beneficial.     

The Determinants of Child Labour and Child Schooling in Ghana

This paper investigates the main determinants of child labourand child schooling in Ghana, with special reference to theirinteraction. The study provides evidence on the impact of povertyand quality of schooling on child labour hours, taking intoaccount their potential endogeneity. The exercise distinguishesbetween cluster poverty and household poverty in the two-stageHeckman estimation procedure. In addition, it relies on a setof non-common regressors to identify the child labour hoursregression from the selection equation. Other methodologicalfeatures include simultaneous equations estimation of childlabour, child schooling and poverty, taking into account theirjoint endogeneity. The empirical results contain some evidenceof sharp rural urban differences, thus, pointing to the needto adopt region specific policies in enhancing child welfare.However, rural, semi-urban and urban Ghana agree on the effectiverole that improved school attendance can play in curbing childlabour.     

Rural Labor Migration and Poverty Reduction in China

Using various sources of data, this paper examines the contributions of rural labor migration to economic growth and poverty reduction in China. The results show that there is still a significant number of people living in poverty in rural areas, while the effectiveness of migration on poverty reduction has declined, implying an urgent need for new approaches to poverty reduction. China's experiences could also be valuable for the formulation of development strategies in other developing countries.     

Labor Market Integration and Its Effect on Child Labor

This note demonstrates that when developing countries remove barriers to migration and integrate their labor markets, children may be driven out of schools and into informal or paid employment in the comparatively rich countries. In industrialized countries, the same mechanism might drive families into social security or government-subsidized jobs.     

Exploring China's Potential Child Poverty

This paper estimates child poverty in China using 20IS data from the China Household Income Project.Applying the Alkire-Foster drawer approach,we constructed a multidimensional poverty indicator system that accounted for multiple factors contributing to a child's development and well-being,based on which we estimated multidimensional poverty experienced by children.Children s poverty varied by age,gender,rural/urban settings,and geographic region.By extending the Alkire-Foster drawer approach,two important features of child poverty in China were found,which had normally been neglected by per capita poverty measures:poor children in nonpoor families and unequal allocations to different children within the same families.The results showed that more than 40 percent of multidimensionally poor children lived in nonpoor families.Unequal resource allocation within families was observed in half of the families.These two features of child poverty require more policy attention and the Chinese government should prioritize addressing multidimensional child poverty.     

Child Labor and Exploitation in Turn-of-the-Century Cotton Mills

This paper tests the claims of historians and labor reformers that turn-of-the-century industrialists exploited children in cotton mills, particularly in the South. The paper compares mill children′s earnings with estimates of their value of marginal product and also reports empirical earnings functions. Test results are consistent with, though they do not prove, the absence of exploitation. Children′s earnings in Southern mills were roughly equal to their value of marginal product. Children′s pay in both the North and the South depended on such characteristics as age, schooling, and experience. While neither test of exploitation is decisive in itself, there is no clear evidence of neoclassical economic exploitation in either Northern or Southern cotton mills.     

Child Labour in the Philippines: Determinants and Effects

This paper analyses the supply-side socioeconomic determinants of child labour in the Philippines using data from the National Household Survey and the Labour Force Survey of the Philippines. The research methodology is that of a sequential probit model which assumes that household decisions are made in a hierarchical manner. Using this model, the impact of various household and economic characteristics on the probability of child labour is estimated. The findings highlight specific populations that should be targeted, for example, single working mothers in urban areas and poor households in rural areas. Working towards elimination of child labour will involve a multi-angled policy approach with policies complementing each other.     

Vulnerability of Vietnamese Elderly to Poverty: Determinants and Policy Implications*

We identify determinants of elderly poverty in Vietnam using household survey data from 2004. The elderly living in urban and rural areas face significantly different conditions. Some factors impact poverty in both urban and rural areas (e.g. age, marital status, region and remittance receipts), some factors are insignificant in both areas (e.g. living arrangements and household head characteristics) and some factors have a differing impact in the two areas (e.g. gender, ethnicity, and household composition and size). With these findings, we formulate policy priorities, including reducing regional disparities, promoting the rural economy and reforming social security.