دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی اثر جهانی سازی و بازار اعتباری نقص ها در بوجود آمدن کودکان کار - امرالد 2017

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of globalization and credit market imperfections on child labour. Design/methodology/approach – Analysis is based on cross-country regression framework, incorporating 129 developing countries for the period 1970-2010. Findings – The findings indicate that countries that are more open to trade and having higher foreign direct investment inflow have lower incidence of child labour. As child labour in export-related industries is hard to find, trade sanctions may not have a significant effect on child labour. Further study concludes that income of the bottom quartile of the population is the best representation of the income of the poor when studying child labour. Research limitations/implications – The study uses the data compiled by International Labour Organization (ILO). Though much of the variation in the data is because of the adjustments made by ILO, this is the only comparable cross-country estimates available. Hence in the absence of the cross-country comparable estimates, many empirical studies have used this data set (e.g. Cigno et al., 2002; Dehejia and Gatti, 2002; Rogers and Swinnerton, 2001). This study acknowledges this limitation but again in the absence of any comparable estimates, the assessment is also based on this data set. Originality/value – Study contributes in the literature by comparing the effect of export and trade and by exploring the effect of an alternate measure of the income, estimated by using Gini coefficient, on child labour. Further studies exploring the effect of globalization did not explore the presence of imperfect credit market, however, this study has explored the effect of credit market imperfections as well.

6. Conclusions

The purpose of this paper was to investigate the link between globalization, defined as increase in trade openness and penetration of FDI, and incidence of child labour, while taking into account the role of credit market imperfections. The empirical assessment was based on the cross-sectional analysis of 129 developing countries for four decades, from 1970 to 2010. This study showed that income does affect child labour. The only difference in this study and all the previous studies is that it predicts the negative effect of income using two different measures of income after correcting endogeneity bias. To the best of the author’s knowledge, these measures have not been incorporated in earlier studies at the cross-sectional level.

The study first estimated the effect of income on child labour incidence by using real GDP per capita, and then estimated the effect by using an alternative measure of income: income held by bottom quartile of the population. This proxy helps in understanding the income inequality argument. This argument was tested by comparing the estimates of different proxies of income. The two alternative measures, real GDP per capita and income held by bottom quartile of the population showed a significant but non-linear effect. The study also concludes that the income of the bottom quartile of the population rather than real GDP per capita is the better income proxy to use when analysing child labour incidence. As this measure is based on Gini coefficient and income share of bottom quartile population, the study further concludes that an effective policy to reduce child labour incidence should also take into account inequality that exists in an economy.