Three essays on child labor

Child labor is still prevalent largely in developing countries. I explore the relevance that inequality has on explaining the differences in prevalence of child labor across countries. I consider three types of inequality: financial inequality, income inequality and land inequality.;In Chapter 2, I present a simple theoretical model to explore the question of whether a more equal distribution of land leads to a lower prevalence of child labor. The model allows me to explore the question from both the intensive and the extensive dimensions of child labor. I show that not all land transfers from land-abundant households towards land-scarce households would reduce child labor. Moreover, the answer to the question depends on the dimension of child labor considered. The type of land redistributions that would affect the extensive dimension of child labor are more restricted than the type affecting the intensive dimension of it. Additionally, better quality data is required I order to effectively empirically evaluate land redistributions that would affect child labor prevalence.;In Chapter 3, I use widely available measures of land and income inequality to evaluate their impact on the percentage of children ages 10 to 14 that are working. The unequal distribution of resources is often cited as a source of the persistence of child labor. Previous cross-country studies of child labor differences, though, have not considered land inequality. The results suggest that the distribution of resources has a significant effect on child labor prevalence, even after controlling for the level of income.;In Chapter 1, my co-author and I explore the effect that increased access to the financial system by the poor has on child labor prevalence across countries. We use a data set provided by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) on the number of clients of alternative financial institutions per country. With this data set, we capture the access that the poor has to the financial system, given the special nature of those financial institutions. Our results indicate that countries with mechanisms that facilitate access to the financial system by the poor have a lower prevalence of child labor. Measures of general access to credit (not just by poor households) have no significant impact on child labor.