Why Do Children Work in Developing Countries? : A Review of Theoretical Studies on Child Labor

This study explains why children work in developing countries by reviewing theoretical research on child labor. Roughly, over the past 15 years, a growing number of economic studies have investigated the incidence of child labor. Some theoretical studies examine why child labor persists in the context of labor market equilibrium and others analyze what determines the supply of child labor in the framework of household utility maximization. Studies reviewed here suggest that low household income is not the sole cause of child labor and that a variety of factors related to a child, parents, and household, such as credit constraints, household size and composition, schooling costs, a child's innate ability, and the balance of bargaining power between parents, also affect the incidence of child labor