Residential Rivalry and Constraints on the Availability of Child Labor

35 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2011 Last revised: 28 May 2023

See all articles by Richard Akresh

Richard Akresh

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Eric V. Edmonds

Dartmouth College - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: June 2011

Abstract

We consider the influence of household-based production on human capital investment. In data from rural Burkina Faso, we document a positive correlation between the presence of girls and enrollment that disappears in households that are able to send out or receive in children. We argue that the connection between education and the sex composition of co-resident children in households that are constrained in their ability to adjust child labor owes to residential rivalry, the idea that having a greater share of resident children with an advantage in household based production increases education by reducing the within-household equilibrium value of child time.

Suggested Citation

Akresh, Richard and Edmonds, Eric V., Residential Rivalry and Constraints on the Availability of Child Labor (June 2011). NBER Working Paper No. w17165, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1872304

Richard Akresh (Contact Author)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ( email )

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IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Eric V. Edmonds

Dartmouth College - Department of Economics ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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