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Spillover Effects of Tobacco Farms on the Labor Supply, Education, and Health of Children: Evidence from Malawi
- Source :
- American Journal of Agricultural Economics. 101:1181-1202
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Wiley, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Using data from the Living Standards Measurement Study in Malawi, we examine the spillover effects of tobacco farms on children’s labor supply, education, and health. To address potential endogeneity, the share of tobacco farms in a community is instrumented by the change in tobacco buyers following termination of the intermediate buyer system. We find that, as tobacco cultivation is labor-intensive, children in communities with more tobacco growers spend more time as casual laborers and are less likely to advance to the next grade. Adverse health effects, measured by the likelihood of suffering from illnesses related to green tobacco sickness, are estimated to be larger than previously documented. This affects not only “working-age” children but also children too young to work on tobacco farms. Moreover, exposure to large-scale tobacco cultivation is estimated to reduce the height-for-age z-score of children aged 6–60 months. These findings highlight the importance of raising awareness and taking measures to protect children against green tobacco.
- Subjects :
- LABOR MARKET
Economics and Econometrics
CHILDREN'S HEALTH
Casual
CHILD LABOR
LIVING STANDARDS MEASUREMENT STUDY
TOBACCO FARMS
TOBACCO CULTIVATION
Standard of living
Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
Spillover effect
Work (electrical)
Measurement study
Environmental health
Cultivation of tobacco
Endogeneity
Business
GREEN TOBACCO SICKNESS
Green Tobacco Sickness
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14678276 and 00029092
- Volume :
- 101
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- American Journal of Agricultural Economics
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....93936e0b87bbe84d256f67b235367b7c