This represents a participation rate of 13.7 percent. In parts of central Africa, the figure can be as high as 32.9 percent. There is strong evidence that child labor is not the result of greedy parents forcing their children to work. Children of the non-poor seldom work even in very poor countries. Indeed, Basu and Van's analysis builds on the assumption that parents care about their children's leisure.
Child labor is a manifestation of desperation rather than child abuse.
There are N households in the economy. A household consists of one adult and m children. 0 is a parameter that may be interpreted as the subsistence consumption level. This expression is decreasing in e. The greater the wage rate, the less willing parents are to send their children to work.