Children's Work Activities in Malaysia

Bibliographic Data

ID4743969
AuthorsDennis De Tray (corresponding author)
Year1983
Volume9
Issue3
Pages437
Publication date1983-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopulation and Development Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0098-7921 • E-ISSN: 1728-4457
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1973317
OpenAlexW2320392534
LanguageEN
Citations received14

If we understood better the economic contributions that children make to parents, we might also understand better the course of demographic transition and economic development. Such information could prove instrumental in efforts to slow population growth and to increase income levels of future generations. Information on children's economic value to parents might provide answers to many puzzles in the developing world. Couples in developing nations, especially poor couples, often have a great many children. Does this result from ignorance and poor judgment, or does the explanation lie more with costs and returns of having and raising children? Is school attendance among some rural agricultural populations low because parents are unaware of the value of education, or because children in those environments have many important alternative uses for their time? Do children perform activities that free parents, especially mothers, to move into the marketplace? And, conversely, when mothers work away from their homes, do children take up the slack at home, perhaps at the expense of time in school? This article takes one step along the road to answering these questions by exploring children's work patterns while they live with their parents. It begins with a brief overview of past efforts in this area and a discussion of problems and issues encountered in estimating the economic value of children. Sections that follow describe the country setting and data base for this study, discuss what we expect to find and why, and present results. The final section provides a summary and conclusion

Business · Work (physics) · Engineering · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare