Child labour is a widespread phenomenon. Although economic activities of children have been commonplace even before the industrialisation, it has in the meanwhile become a lasting symbol of the industrial revolution and of industrialisation in general. In most countries the inclusion of children...

Incorporating family decisions in a two-period-model of the world economy, we show that trade liberalization may reduce child labour in developing countries where the initial share of skilled workers in the adult workforce – though not as large as in developed countries – is nonetheless...

There is no empirical evidence that trade exposure per se increases child labour. As trade theory and household economics lead us to expect, the cross-country evidence seems to indicate that trade reduces or, at worst, has no significant effect on child labour. Consistently with the theory, a...