The Economic Contribution of Children in Peasant Agriculture and the Effect of Education: Evidence from the Philippines

Abstract

Issues of consumption-leisure choice and of the effect of education are at the centte of the debate on labour supply and on the economic value of children in peasant agriculture. This paper provides empirical evidence on how education affects child labour supply in an extended commodity demand-labour supply framework, using farmhousehold survey data from the Philippines. The empirical results of this paper point out that adult and child labour respond normally to changes in wages, that a complementarity exists between adult and child labour in farm operations, that children have a positive economic conttibution to farm households in peasant agriculture, and that education may have a limited impact in reducing fertility in rural households.