André Portela Fernandes de Souza

Is child labor harmful? The impact of working earlier in life on adult earnings

This paper explores the question: is working as a child harmful to an individual in terms of adult outcomes in earnings? Although this is an extremely important question, little is known about the effect of child labor on adult outcomes. Estimations of an instrumental variables earnings model on data from Brazil show that child labor has a large negative impact on adult earnings for male children even when controlling for schooling and that the negative impact of starting to work as a child reverses at around ages 12–14.

New Evidence of the Causal Effect of Family Size on Child Quality in a Developing Country

This paper presents new evidence of the causal effect of family size on child quality in a developing-country context. We estimate the impact of family size on child labor and educational outcomes among Brazilian children and young adults by exploring the exogenous variation of family size driven by the presence of twins in the family. Using the Brazilian Census data for 1991, we find that the exogenous increase in family size is positively related to labor force participation for boys and girls and to household chores for young women. We also find negative effects on educational outcomes for boys and girls and negative impacts on human capital formation for young female adults. Moreover, we obtain suggestive evidence that credit and time constraints faced by poor families may explain the findings.

Child labor and learning

This paper investigates the impact of working while in school on learning outcomes through the use of a unique micro panel dataset of Brazilian students. The potential endogeneity is addressed through the use of di erence-in-di erence and instrumental variable estimators. A negative e ect of working on learning outcomes in both math and Portuguese is found. The e ects of child work range from 3% to 8% of a standard deviation decline in test score which represents a loss of about a quarter to a half of a year of learning on average. We also explore the minimum legal age to entry in the labor market to induce an exogenous variation in child labor status. The results reinforce the detrimental e ects of child labor on learning. Additionally, it is found that this e ect is likely due to the interference of work with the time kids can devote to school and school work.

Trends in child labor and the impact on health in adulthood in Brazil from 1998 to 2008

There is little evidence in Brazil on the impact of child labor on health status in adulthood. This study aimed to investigate trends in child labor in Brazil and estimate the long-term effects of child labor on the health of Brazilian adults, using nationally representative databases (Brazilian National Household Sample Survey) from three different years (1998, 2003, and 2008). The models were based on a two-stage linear equation and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). The results suggest that child labor has declined in Brazil, although the data still show patterns of early entry into the countrys labor market. Regardless of the type of work, child labor adversely affected health outcomes in adulthood, both directly (impacts on health outcomes) and indirectly (losses in educational attainment). Child labor places a long-term burden on Brazilians, jeopardizing the formation of human capital through negative impacts on health outcomes in adulthood.

Short- and Long-Term Effects of a Child-Labor Ban

This is the first study to investigate the short- and long-term causal effects of a child-labor ban. The study explores the law that increased the minimum employment age from 14 to 16 in Brazil in 1998, and uncovers its impact on time allocated to schooling and work in the short term and on school attainment and labor market outcomes in the long term. The analysis uses cross-sectional data from 1998 to 2014, and applies a fuzzy regression discontinuity design to estimate the impact of the ban at different points of individuals’ lifecycles. The estimates show that the ban reduced the incidence of boys in paid work activities by 4 percentage points or 27 percent. The study finds that the fall in child labor is mostly explained by the change in the proportions of boys working for pay and studying, and observes an increase in the proportion of boys only studying as a consequence. The results suggest that the ban reduced boys’ participation in the labor force. The study follows the same cohort affected by the ban over the years, and finds that the short-term effects persisted until 2003 when the boys turned 18. The study pooled data from 2007 to 2014 to check whether the ban affected individuals’ stock of human capital and labor market outcomes. The estimates suggest that the ban did not have long-term effects for the whole cohort, but found some indication that it did negatively affect the log earnings of individuals at the lower tail of the earnings distribution.

Informality in an economy with active labour courts

ABSTRACT Job regulations and the justice branch interfere on several aspects of labour contracts. We build a model which explores the role of labour courts on the wage distribution in both formal and informal sectors. We obtain that the presence of active labour courts produces a negative relation between the wage gap and the productivity of the worker, a regularity documented in the empirical literature. Active labour courts also reduce informality of unskilled workers but do not have an impact on informality of skilled workers. Some elements and implications of our model are tested using Brazilian data.

Evolução e impacto do trabalho infantil na saúde de indivíduos adultos no Brasil entre 1998 e 2008

There is little evidence in Brazil on the impact of child labor on health status in adulthood. This study aimed to investigate trends in child labor in Brazil and estimate the long-term effects of child labor on the health of Brazilian adults, using nationally representative databases (Brazilian National Household Sample Survey) from three different years (1998, 2003, and 2008). The models were based on a two-stage linear equation and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). The results suggest that child labor has declined in Brazil, although the data still show patterns of early entry into the countrys labor market. Regardless of the type of work, child labor adversely affected health outcomes in adulthood, both directly (impacts on health outcomes) and indirectly (losses in educational attainment). Child labor places a long-term burden on Brazilians, jeopardizing the formation of human capital through negative impacts on health outcomes in adulthood.

Evolución e impacto del trabajo infantil en la salud de los individuos adultos en Brasil entre 1998 y 2008

There is little evidence in Brazil on the impact of child labor on health status in adulthood. This study aimed to investigate trends in child labor in Brazil and estimate the long-term effects of child labor on the health of Brazilian adults, using nationally representative databases (Brazilian National Household Sample Survey) from three different years (1998, 2003, and 2008). The models were based on a two-stage linear equation and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). The results suggest that child labor has declined in Brazil, although the data still show patterns of early entry into the countrys labor market. Regardless of the type of work, child labor adversely affected health outcomes in adulthood, both directly (impacts on health outcomes) and indirectly (losses in educational attainment). Child labor places a long-term burden on Brazilians, jeopardizing the formation of human capital through negative impacts on health outcomes in adulthood.