Child labour and inequality

This paper focuses on the role that inequality plays in shaping political supportfor child labour regulation policies. We provide a model of the evolution of child labour,fertility and human capital where the heterogeneity between low- and high-skilled workersallows for an endogenous analysis of inequality generated by child labour. Depending onthe initial level of inequality, child labour regulation policies can affect the welfare of lowandhigh-skilled workers in different ways and therefore can have an impact on politicalsupport for their introduction. The possible conflicts of interest that may arise between thetwo groups can help explain the difficulties that many governments have when dealing withthe issue of child labour.