Agricultural Technology and Child Labor: Evidence from India

Abstract

Child labor continues to be a major problem in developing countries, particularly in agricultural countries. The latest ILO global report points out that nine out of every ten child laborer is involved in the agricultural sector. The focus of this paper is on the rural sector in India, a country where child labor continues to be a major problem. A number of factors have been found to significantly influence the extent of child labor. This paper will focus on the type of technology utilized in the agricultural sector. Technology is divided into two types: biochemical and mechanical. The empirical results indicate that biochemical technology is not strongly linked to child labor. However, mechanical technology is found to have a statistically significant and negative impact on child labor