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Do international labor standards contribute to the persistence of the child-labor problem?

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Abstract

In recent years, a number of governments and consumer groups in rich countries have tried to discourage the use of child-labor in poor countries through measures such as product boycotts and the imposition of international labor standards. The purported objective of such measures is to reduce the incidence of child-labor in developing countries and thereby improve children’s welfare. In this paper, we examine the effects of such policies from a political-economy perspective. We show that these types of international action on child-labor tend to lower domestic political support within developing countries for banning child-labor. Hence, international labor standards and product boycotts may delay the ultimate eradication of child-labor.

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Correspondence to Matthias Doepke.

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We thank Kaushik Basu, Kalle Moene, Kjetil Storesletten, and seminar participants at the University of Oslo, the Annual Congress of the European Economic Association in Milan, and the Annual Congress of the Society for Economic Dynamics for helpful comments. Doepke acknowledges financial support from the National Science Foundation (grant SES-0519265) and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Zilibotti acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council (ERC Advanced Grant IPCDP-229883).

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Doepke, M., Zilibotti, F. Do international labor standards contribute to the persistence of the child-labor problem?. J Econ Growth 15, 1–31 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-009-9048-8

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