Were American Parents Really Selfish? Child Labour in the 19th Century

Abstract

Using the US Commissioner of Labor Survey of 1890, we examine household decisions and parental altruism vis-a-vis their children. Contrary to Parsons and Goldin (1989), we find that parental location choices were dictated by constraints rather than the desire to exploit child labour opportunities. We also find signfiicant income effects on child labour supply, indicating that rising affluence played an important part in the secular decline of child labour. We also find that the effects of children's income on their own consumption are weak, once child labour is controlled for.

Keywords: Child labour, parental altruism

JEL Classification: D13, J13, N31