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My whole life my parents always taught me by example the importance of hard work, and involving your self in things to help you grow. So even though they never made me do anything that I didn't want to do, I always felt the importance of working hard and trying new things. So in my opinion it starts with the parents, and showing their kids why it's important to work. I plan on doing that with my kids.

Jason | http://www.borowieclaw.com

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In my opinion whether a teen/child is working or participating in extra curricular activities they both require lots of work. No child should be forced to work or participate in these activities. Plus, if a child is struggling because of their activities they should cut back on those activities.

Mia | http://www.westandforjustic...

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These are valid points. Personally, I think we have come a long way as a society. As long as we are raising these children to be good parents and adults, these issues will keep getting better.

Annie | http://www.jcohenmediation.com/div1.htm

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The only time I've heard about child labor in the United States was in the waiting room of a medical malpractice attorney in Whiteville NC. I couldn't believe it actually existed here! I know it does in third world countries, but America? Really?

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It's true that it is pretty hard to regulate kids working in the aforementioned areas like sports, dance, and music. I started being a "coach" when I was playing soccer at the age of 15. Sometimes kids want to work though and I don't think that is a bad thing. It's kind of like becoming an  immigration lawyer. I wasn't very keen on the idea of immigration when I was in high school, but I understand the issue now.

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We could tax positional goods and allow part-time, low-intensity work in government-certified businesses. Some kids might still be coerced by their parents, but the problem would be limited in scale. Note that we do certify government schools, and we don't worry too much about kids being pushed to do a lot of studying or other school activities.

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Isn't this a clasic example of centrally enforced rules used to overcome the defection problem.

Most goods are positional (nice house, high status car, good schools) and while we know studies show that in rich societies like ours absolute gains in wealth bring little increased happiness relative gains in wealth are greatly desired.

So if most people make their kids work we all end up worse off since activities are probably more fun than the serious work continued defection might ensure. On the other hand by banning it we are all better off since no one kids end up working to try and improve their families relative position.

Of course all rules have a cost and the more you ban the more annoyance and social costs. So what's the minimal rule that keeps people from defecting? Kids can work but not for money. This gives maximal freedom while preventing status increase through child labor.

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Also one of the reasons we ban child labor is not to outlaw the legitamate buisnesses and normal work done by children of functioning parents but because otherwise we can't usefully enforce more narrow laws against true child explotation, e.g., adopting kids and making them work for you or (as is common in some parts of the world) children who are smuggled in with the promise of a better life or sent to their relatives then being tirelessly worked.

Note that since children lack the ability to realize they are working in deeply unfair/unsafe situations and the ability to successfully report violations of law mere regulation of child labor won't really suffice. Also even when submitting testimony it may be difficult for children who are scrubbed up by their relatives to be believed rather than taken for spoiled kids angry at their parents. On the other side the satanic sexual abuse buisness shows how easily such allegations might be fallsely encouraged, say by psychiatrists or school officials with a chip on their shoulder against a certain immigrant culture.

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Curious that someone who thinks of himself as an economist needs proof to appreciate that when an activity generates revenues, people do more of it.

Must be all that signaling you are doing, to your worthy overlords, trying to generate more revenues yourself.

Exploitation of child labor and the dynamics of debt bondage

A theory of exploitative child labor

Targeting Child Labor in Debt Bondage: Evidence, Theory, and Policy Implications

What this research shows is that when children work, it depresses the wages of their parents because the subsistence wages of the parents can be further reduced because of the income the children generate. The children, the family and the parents are all worse off.

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I argued that 6 & 7 are conventional wisdom and that the child labor laws comport well with this conventional wisdom, so there is no need to impute hypocrisy. I also said that this conventional wisdom can be debated, not that it is correct. So a better question is: What is the evidence that 6 & 7 are conventional wisdom?

My grandmother was pulled out of school after 5th grade to work in textile mills and always regretted her lack of education. She believed that child labor laws, properly enforced, would have saved her from that fate. Maybe she would have been put to unpaid work at home had the mills not been hiring girls, but she didn't think so.

My read of popular lore is that versions of this anecdote are quite common and that corresponding anecdotes, in which unpaid work was equally regretted, are practically unknown. In fact, tales of working in family enterprises (such as the proverbial farm) are often told with pride and satisfaction.

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What do you think about the recent trend toward unpaid internships? Half Sigma gives a class-based interpretation here.

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Yes of course there have been exploited kids who got wages. But there have also been lots of exploited kids without wages. Where is the evidence that unpaid work is associated with lots less exploitation?

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Robin, you might want to watch a movie that illustrates #6, how children can be exploited once they become a profit center. Slum Dog Millionaire is an example of how, because a beggar with a beautiful voice can earn a lot of alms, but because a blind beggar with a beautiful voice can “earn double”, the invisible hand of the marketplace manages to fill the demand for blind beggars with beautiful voices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

There is also the issue of the Commercial sexual exploitation of children.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

I presume you appreciate that if there were not customers to purchase the “labor” of these children that the exploitation would not happen. A brothel can only operate as a business, not as a non-profit that gives away its “services”.

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You're exactly right: child labor laws were won by unions to limit competition. What you don't address is why the function of these laws doesn't *continue* to be protecting adult workers from unfair competition by children.

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Seems likely to me that the exemption of unpaid labor was a recognition of the role of children on farms (just as the school year calendar recognized it). Remember that before Baker vs Carr agricultural areas had political power exceeding their numbers. The recent book on Prohibition (senior moment--can't remember the title) pointed out this factor as critical for the passage of Prohibition.

I also wonder about the theory it was union power. Unons weren't that powerful in national politics until the New Deal. Meanwhile regulation of hours children worked date back to Massachusetts in the mid-1800's. Progressive ideology perhaps had a greater influence on child labor laws than did the unions.

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What's your definition of "often"? The U.S. Code is on the order of 50,000 pages now. Are there any subjects for which the associated federal regulations are free from redundancy and philosophical self-contradiction?

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Laws should expire with the end of the term of the executive who signed them, and only be reinstated individually. Make the current legislature responsible for all the laws on the books.

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