Laws against it can do more harm than good:
The complex economics of family finances show why simply passing laws against child labor can backfire. The impact of India’s 1986 landmark legislation against child labor in factories is one example. Economists Prashant Bharadwaj and Leah Lakdawala studied child labor rates and payments before and after the ban was implemented across different industries. They found the result of the law was to drive wages for children down and the number of hours they worked up.
Paying families who send their children to school has had more success:
A number of countries have introduced cash transfer schemes that pay families with kids in school. Mexico’s Opportunidades program gives mothers as much for keeping the girl in the ninth grade as two-thirds the amount a girl would earn in the labor force. The program has reduced child labor rates by as much as a quarter. And because sending kids to work is a choice of desperation for most parents, even unconditional cash transfers—simply giving poor people money with no strings attached—has reduced child labor rates in Malawi and South Africa. Providing free school meals is another approach (pdf) to increase enrollment and improve learning.
(Photo: Bangladeshi child labourers wash their hands before lunch at an aluminium pot factory in Dhaka on October 21, 2014. More than 6.3 million children under the age of 14 are working in Bangladesh, according to a UNICEF report on child labour. By Munir Uz Zaman/AFP/Getty Images)
The Dish 