Household Access to Microcredit and Child Work in Rural Malawi

24 Pages Posted: 25 Apr 2005 Last revised: 6 Sep 2024

See all articles by Gautam Hazarika

Gautam Hazarika

University of Texas at Brownsville; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Sudipta Sarangi

Virginia Tech

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of household access to microcredit upon work by seven to eleven year old children in rural Malawi. Given that microcredit organizations foster household enterprises wherein much child labor is engaged, this paper aims to discover whether access to microcredit might increase work by children. It is found that household access to microcredit, measured in a novel manner as self-assessed credit limits at microcredit organizations, raises the probability of child work in households with sample mean values of land ownership and number of retail sales enterprises. It appears this is due to children having to take up more domestic chores as adults are busied in household enterprises following improved access to microcredit.

Keywords: microcredit, child labor

JEL Classification: J22

Suggested Citation

Hazarika, Gautam and Sarangi, Sudipta, Household Access to Microcredit and Child Work in Rural Malawi. IZA Discussion Paper No. 1567, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=708175

Gautam Hazarika (Contact Author)

University of Texas at Brownsville ( email )

Brownsville, TX 78520
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Sudipta Sarangi

Virginia Tech ( email )

250 Drillfield Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24061
United States

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