Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Vellore Arthi
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Oxford
Author-Email:vellore.arthi@merton.ox.ac.uk
Author-Name: James Fenske
Author-Workplace-Name: University of Oxford
Author-Email:james.fenske@economics.ox.ac.uk.
Title: Labour and Health in Colonial Nigeria
Abstract: We examine the determinants of time allocation and child labour in a
year-long panel of time-use data from colonial Nigeria. Using quantitative and
ethnographic approaches, we show that health shocks imposed time costs on
individuals. Whether individuals could recruit substitutes depended on social
standing, urgency of work, and type of illness. Child labour did not
systematically respond to temporary parental illness, but could replace a
permanently disabled adult. Child labour was coordinated with parental work,
aided childcare, and allowed children to build skills and resources. These
decisions can be understood within an endogenous bargaining power
framework with labour complementarities.
X-Classification-JEL: 
X-Keywords: 
Length: 41 pages
Creation-Date: 2013-05-01
Number: _114
File-URL: http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/12743/arthifenske114.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:nuf:esohwp:_114