Le Travail des Enfants. Une Revue de la Littérature Economique Récente

Abstract

In this article, we analyse the different economic theories surrounding child labour. We distinguish two different analyses of child labour. The first analysis referring to poverty, studies the impacts on the household well being of a parental decisions’ to put the child in work. In fact, poverty is the main factor explaining child labour. In this approach the household trades-off between offering leisure to children or to put them in the labour market regarding to parental income. In the second approach, the trade-off is not between leisure and child labour, but between education and child labour. According to this approach, child labour is not solely a factor of poverty but also a factor of the imperfection of the capital market. The decision to put children in the labour market has an impact of their well being. These two approaches show that child labour leads to a poverty trap.