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Climate Variability, Child Labour and Schooling: Evidence on the Intensive and Extensive Margin

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  • Jonathan Colmer

    (London School of Economics)

Abstract
How does future income uncertainty affect child labour and human capital accumulation? Using a unique panel dataset, we examine the effect of changes in climate variability on the allocation of time among child labour activities (the intensive margin) as well as participation in education and labour activities (the extensive margin). We find robust evidence that increased climate variability increases the number of hours spent on farming activities while reducing the number of hours spent on domestic chores, indicating a substitution of time across child labour activities. In addition, we find no evidence of climate variability on enrolment decisions or educational outcomes, suggesting that households may spread the burden of labour across children to minimize its impact on formal education.

Suggested Citation

  • Jonathan Colmer, 2013. "Climate Variability, Child Labour and Schooling: Evidence on the Intensive and Extensive Margin," Working Papers 2013.81, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    • Handle: RePEc:fem:femwpa:2013.81
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    Cited by:

    1. M. Jehangir Khan & Wei Yin & Aqsa Anwar, 2020. "Macro Shocks and Child Grade Attainment in Rural Pakistan," PIDE-Working Papers 2020:16, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    2. Alem, Yonas & Colmer, Jonathan, 2013. "Optimal Expectations and the Welfare Cost of Climate Variability," Working Papers in Economics 578, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    3. Trong‐Anh Trinh & Alberto Posso & Simon Feeny, 2020. "Child Labor and Rainfall Deviation: Panel Data Evidence from Rural Vietnam," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 58(1), pages 63-76, March.
    4. Valeria Groppo & Kati Kraehnert, 2017. "The impact of extreme weather events on education," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 433-472, April.
    5. Yonatan Dinku & David Fielding & Murat Genç, 2018. "Health shocks and child time allocation decisions by households: evidence from Ethiopia," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-23, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate Variability; Child Labour; Schooling;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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