“Child labour: Behavioral and Economic Incentives”

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Every year, ESPOL-Lab organises political science conferences. Free access to members of the Catholic University of Lille, and on registration for outsiders and to follow online.

Abstract

“In a fast-paced world, traditional concerns of economic and human development, especially of the Global South, such as child labour could easily be forgotten or relegated to the bucket of “non-pressing issues”. Whilst significant progress has been made in combating child labour, many children continue to engage in child labour at the expense of their health, education, and human capital development. In this lecture, I discuss potential economic and non-economic causes of child labour drawing on the findings of my work in the field in the past five years. I explore the interplay of different factors within broad social-economic policy contexts focusing on the impact of food prices, and agricultural policies on child labour. In discussing these issues, I seek to demonstrate how well-intended agricultural policies could incentivise child labour in some developing countries.” – Raymond FREMPONG, Associate Professor of Development Economics at ESPOL, Université catholique de Lille.