Furio Rosati

Does Globalization Increase Child Labor

Abstract There is no empirical evidence that trade exposure per se increases child labor. As trade theory and household economics lead us to expect, the crosscountry evidence seems to indicate that trade reduces or, at worst, has no significant effect on child labor. Consistently with the theory, a comparatively well-educated labor force, and active social policies, appear to be conducive to a reduction in child labor. For countries with a largely uneducated workforce, the problem is not so much globalization, as not being allowed to take part in it.

Rise and fall of the Japanese saving rate: The role of social security and intra-family transfers

Abstract Alternative models of household saving behaviour are tested using Japanese post-war time series data. Basic life-cycle theory and models based on some form of intergenerational altruism are rejected in favour of an extended life-cycle model based on the assumption of strategic self-interest. The early rise and subsequent fall of the saving rate is explained by the interaction of state, capital market and extended family as providers of old-age social security.