In many developing countries, a modern sector coexists with a traditional, informal, sector often intensive in child labor. In such a setting, when parents care about both the number and wellbeing of offsping, but also attach an economic value to children, there is a positive association between...

I develop a theory of technical progress that uncovers sufficient conditions for opposition to the adoption of child labor laws to disappear over time. The supply of child labor comes exclusively from unskilled parents, because of their inability to help their children benefit from formal...

This paper explores the dynamics of voting over mandatory education when parents allocate children's time between school and labor. When poverty keeps a sufficiently high number of children at work rather than in school, the availability of forms of child labor that provide skill-enhancimg...