Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/214599 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
CREMA Working Paper No. 2017-06
Publisher: 
Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA), Zürich
Abstract: 
A majority of people in developing countries spend about 60 percent of their income on food, even though most of them are farmers. Hence, a change in food prices affects both their revenue as well as expenditure, and thereby their labor market decisions. Using the Uganda National Panel Survey and monthly regional food prices, this paper examines the effect of exogenous changes in food prices on child labor. The econometric evidence shows that an increase in food prices leads to an increase in the probability and intensity of child labor. We find the effect of food price increases to be smaller among landowning households, which is consistent with the view that landowning households can better compensate for price shocks. The results suggest that periodic shocks in food prices may have longer lasting effects on human capital development and poverty in developing countries.
Subjects: 
Development
Child labor
Exogenous shock
Food prices
JEL: 
O12
Q18
J20
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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