CHILD LABOR - AN ECONOMIC-PERSPECTIVE

Starting with the questions ''what is a child?'' and ''what is work?'' , the authors review data on child labour. Focusing on its determinant s, they examine supply factors at household level, including family si ze, education, wages and risk of income loss, and factors affecting de mand, including technology. They argue that given the established link between poverty and child labour there are certain advantages in inte rventions to improve the lot of employed children even if that induces an increase in the supply of child workers. Economic incentives and l egislation are the two pillars on which efforts to help working childr en should be based.