Informal institution meets child development:Clan culture and child labor in China

Using a national representative sample, the China Family Panel Studies,this paper explores the influences of clan culture, a hallmark ofChinese cultural history, on the prevalence of child labor in China. Wefind that clan culture significantly reduces the incidence of childlabor and working hours of child laborer. The results exhibit strong boybias, and are driven by boys rather than girls, which reflects thepatrilineal nature of Chinese clan culture. Moreover, the impact isgreater on boys from households with lower socioeconomic status, and inrural areas. Clan culture acts as a supplement to formal institutions:reduces the incidence of child labor through risk sharing and easingcredit constraints, and helps form social norms to promote human capitalinvestment. We also employ an instrument variable approach and carry outa series of robustness checks to further confirm the findings