This paper exploits a natural experiment approach to identify the impact of legislation (Employment of Children Act 1991) in Pakistan on participation of children in the labor markets. The law prohibits employment of children less than 14 years of age in sectors other than agriculture or...

Despite progressive ratification of international conventions on that issue, 23% of the world’s children aged 10-14 are at work. This important book seeks to answer fundamental questions about the phenomenon’s economic causes, the working conditions children endure, and implications of their...

This is the first study to investigate the short- and long-term causal effects of a child-labor ban. The study explores the law that increased the minimum employment age from 14 to 16 in Brazil in 1998, and uncovers its impact on time allocated to schooling and work in the short term and on...