Is child labor harmful? the impact of working as a child on adult earnings

This paper explores the question: is working as young laborer harmful to an individual in terms of adult outcomes in income? This question is explored through the utilization of a unique set of instruments that control for the decision to work as a child and the decision of how much schooling to acquire. These instruments are combined with two large household survey data sets from Brazil that include retrospective information on the child labor and schooling of working-age adults: the 1988 and 1996 PNAD. Estimations of the reduced form earnings model are performed first by using OLS without controlling for the potential endogeneity of child labor and schooling, and then by using a GMM estimation of instrumental variables models that include the set of instruments for child labor and schooling. The findings of the empirical investigations show that child labor has large negative impact on adult earnings for both male and female children even when controlling for schooling. In addition, the negative impact of starting to work as a child reverses at around age 14. Finally, different child labor activities are examined to determine if some are beneficial while others harmful with the finding that working in agriculture as a child appears to have no negative impact over and above the loss of education.

O perfil de bem-estar dos beneficiários em idade economicamente ativa (BIEAs) do Programa Bolsa Família (PBF) : uma proposta de avaliação

O presente trabalho propõe uma avaliação do bem-estar social dos beneficiários em idade economicamente ativa do Programa Bolsa Família (BIEAs PBF) no município de Porto Alegre. Tal avaliação é norteada pela identificação de situações de restrições ou armadilhas (SACHS, 2005) da capacidade dos indivíduos escolherem diferentes estilos de vida, através dos papéis instrumentais da liberdade (SEN, 2010). Assim, são testadas hipóteses que envolvem as relações dos indivíduos com a escolarização, o mercado de trabalho e a renda. Os resultados da avaliação sugerem a existência de um nível de renda com restrições; incentivos para a interrupção do processo de escolarização, antes de um nível desejável; uma relação entre escolaridade e renda, pouco convergente; e um baixo acesso ao mercado de trabalho formal, prevalecendo relações de trabalho mais precárias. Finalmente, o presente trabalho propõe o posicionamento das questões relevantes atinentes aos BIEAs PBF em uma perspectiva mais ampla do desenvolvimento humano.

Old-age benefits and retirement decisions of rural elderly in Brazil

I estimate the impact of social security benefits on retirement decisions of rural workers by studying changes in the roles governing social security in Brazil. I focus on a 1991 reform, which brought a reduction in the minimum eligibility age for males and females, a doubling of benefit values and the extension of benefits to non-heads of households. Because beneficiaries are not subject to means or retirement tests, I estimate apure income effect. I find that a reduction in the minimum eligibility age for old-age benefits was an important determinant in the reduction in labor supply of elderly rural workers in Brazil. Finally, I find that benefit take-up rates are larger among the better educated, but least-schooled workers show the largest labor supply responses to the reform.