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Controversy—does increasing trade lead to more child labor?

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Controversy—does increasing trade lead to more child labor?

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  1. Abdul Husain sorts garbage for a living in Mumbai, India. He is one-step up from being a waste-picker, or scavenger, who prowl garbage dumps and trash bins looking for plastic bottles, aluminum cans and other recyclables. Abdul is 19 years old when we first meet him in Behind the Beautiful Forevers; actually, we can’t be sure that he’s 19 because his mom doesn’t remember when he was born. Most of his suppliers are younger: for example, Sunil, is 12 years old, having recently been kicked out of an orphanage. Abdul has skills: he knows how to gauge the value of recyclables; how to negotiate with waste-pickers; and, is lightening fast at sorting recyclables into the categories bought by recycling plants. Abdul learned what he knows on the street, not in schools. Indeed, he has no formal education. “You didn’t have the mind for school, anyway,” his father had recently observed. Abdul wasn’t sure he’d had enough schooling to make a judgment either way. In the early years, he’d sat in a classroom where nothing much happened. Then there had been only work. (Boo, p. 18)

  2. Controversy—does increasing trade lead to more child labor? Edmonds and Pavcnik (2005) examine whether Vietnams repeal of banning the exports of rise lead to an increase in child labor.

  3. References Boo, Katherine. 2012. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity. New York: Random House. Edmonds, Eric and Nina Pavcnik. 2005. The Effect of Trade Liberalization on Child Labor. Journal of International Economics. 65 (2), 401– 419. PostrelVirginia. 2005. “Research Changes Ideas About Children and Work.” The New York Times, July 14, 2005.

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