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, in the peak harvest season,
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 means of owned land 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. |