Child Labor and Education in Latin America (PDF)

PETER ORAZEM is Professor of Economics at Iowa State University.

GUILHERME LUIS SEDLACEK is Lead Human Development Specialist, Office of Evaluation and Oversight, Inter-American Development bank.

ZAFIRIS TZANNATOS is Adviser to the World Bank Institute. He was previously Advisor to the Managing Director for Human Development, Manager for Social Protection in the Middle East and North Africa Region, and Leader of the Child Labor Program that he initiated

'This is an extremely valuable collection of papers on one of the most urgent problems of our times ? child labour. While both the phenomenon and its analysis have a long history, what makes these papers special is that, in searching for empirical regularities and policy prescriptions, they draw on contemporary economic theory and the best statistical methods. The book should be of value to all researchers and policy makers interested in child labour and human capital, not just in Latin America but anywhere in the world.' - Kaushik Basu, Chairman of the Department of Economics and C. Marks Professor, Cornell University, USA

'This book brings together some of the leading scholars in the field of child labour and documents the long-term negative effects. It is required reading for those interested in knowing about what works to successfully reduce the extent and impact of child labour.' - Harry Anthony Patrinos, Lead Education Economist, World Bank

'Over the years child labor has destroyed dreams and distributed its costs over generations. This situation transmits pain, suffering and the sense of missed opportunities from generation to generation, and makes child labour a singular and undesirable social and economic phenomenon that needs to be erased from the annals of modern societies. This book provides the reader with a sense of what is possible not only to clarify issues that were not heretofore studied in depth but also to propose new ways to address the problem. It is worth reading for its many merits and for what it adds to our knowledge of a stigma that we do not want to live with any longer.' - Jorge Jatobá, Professor of Economics and Economic Consultant

'[T]he editors have produced a volume that will be an indispensable part of any collection on child labor.' - Ranjan Ray, The Developing Economies