[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-113223-en":3,"doc-seo-113223-105":29,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":20,"is_downloadable":20,"audit_status":20,"page_count":21,"language":22,"language_code":23,"site_id":24,"html_lang":23,"table_of_contents":25,"faqs":26,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":27,"read_time":28},113223,137441390410,"Hazel","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/2000252f4ab5702993?_k=1776741390130283984",8,"Research & Report","The Short-and Longer-Term Effects of a Child Labor Ban","This paper examines whether Brazil’s 1998 law raising the minimum employment age from 14 to 16 reduced child labor and increased school attendance, and whether these effects endured after age 16. Using a regression discontinuity design, results show a significant impact for urban boys, with a 35% decrease in paid labor driven mainly by reduced informal work and an 11% rise in the share attending only school. Evidence indicates persistence beyond enforcement, suggesting enforced bans can generate immediate and durable effects.","Pub lic Disclosure Authorized Pub lic Disclosure Authorized  \nThe World Bank Economic Review, 38(2), 2024, 351–370  \n[https://doi.org10.1093/wber/lhad036](https://doi.org10.1093/wber/lhad036)  \nArticle  \nThe Short-and Longer-Term Effects of a Child Labor Ban  \nCaio Piza, André Portela Souza, Patrick M. Emerson, and Vivian Amorim Abstract  \nThis paper investigates whether the 1998 Brazilian law that increased the minimum employment age from 14 to 16 lowered child labor and increased school attendance and whether those effects persisted beyond age 16. Using a regression discontinuity design, the results indicate that the ban had a significant impact on urban boys, a cohort that represents half of all paid child labor in Brazil. This cohort had a 35 percent decrease in paid labor, driven mainly by a decrease in informal work, and an 11 percent increase in the share of those only attending school. In addition, there is evidence that these effects persist past the age of enforcement where the affected cohort was less likely to work and more likely to be only attending school beyond age 16. Overall, the results suggest that enforced bans on child labor can have significant immediate and persistent impacts on affected populations.  \nJEL classification: C21, J08, J22, J24, K31  \nKeywords: child labor, regression discontinuity, local randomization, minimum employment age  \n1. Introduction  \nNumerous studies have shown the deleterious effects of working as a child, particularly at younger ages. Though child-labor rates have been declining worldwide, the numbers are still alarmingly high. In 2020,  \nthe International Labor Organization (ILO) estimated that 160 million children aged 5 to 17 were work  \nCaio Piza is a senior economist at the Development Impact Evaluation Unit at the World Bank, Washington DC, United States; his email address is [caiopiza@worldbank.org. Andr](caiopiza@worldbank.org. Andr)é Portela Souza is a professor at the São Paulo School of Economics, Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV), São Paulo, Brazil; his email address is [andre.portela.souza@fgv.br. Patrick M. Emerson is](andre.portela.souza@fgv.br. Patrick M. Emerson is)[ ](andre.portela.souza@fgv.br. Patrick M. Emerson is)a professor at the Oregon State University, Corvallis, United States; his email address [is patrick.emerson@oregonstate.edu. Vi](is patrick.emerson@oregonstate.edu. Vi)vianAmorim is a consultant of the World Bank, Washington DC, United States; her email address [is vamorim@worldbank.org](is vamorim@worldbank.org). The authors thank Prashant Bharadwaj and the participants of the seminars at the World Bank (DIME Seminar Series), Sao Paulo School of Economics, EPGE-FGV RJ, Brazilian Econometrics Society, the World Bank ABCDE Conference 2015, and the EEA-ESEM 2017 for their comments. The authors thank DIME i2i, the Brazil Country Office, and the World Bank Development Economics Vice Presidency (DEC) for their financial support. André Portela Souza thanks the World Bank for financial support for research while he was a visiting researcher in DEC. The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics at [https://loja.ibge.gov.br/pnad-1987-a-1999-microdados.html](https://loja.ibge.gov.br/pnad-1987-a-1999-microdados.html)[ ](https://loja.ibge.gov.br/pnad-1987-a-1999-microdados.html)(1998 and 1999 waves of the Brazilian Household Survey) and [https://www.ibge.gov.br/estatisticas/sociais/educacao/9127-p](https://www.ibge.gov.br/estatisticas/sociais/educacao/9127-p)[esquisa-nacional-por-amostra-de-domicilios.html?t=microdados](esquisa-nacional-por-amostra-de-domicilios.html?t=microdados) (2001 to 2015 waves of the Brazilian Household Survey) . Our code is publicly available at [https://github.com/worldbank/child-labor-ban-brazil. It](https://github.com/worldbank/child-labor-ban-brazil. It) allows the replication of all the tables and figures presented in the paper. A supplementary online a","cbCaidZHLTlRH6Pc","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaidZHLTlRH6Pc","pdf",652688,1,20,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Study context and motivation\n## Policy background and enforcement challenges\n## Research design and empirical strategy","[{\"question\":\"What policy change does the paper analyze?\",\"answer\":\"The study analyzes Brazil’s 1998 law that increased the minimum employment age from 14 to 16.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the paper identify the effects of the child labor ban?\",\"answer\":\"It uses a regression discontinuity design to compare outcomes around the age threshold created by the law.\"},{\"question\":\"What were the main short- and longer-term outcomes reported?\",\"answer\":\"The ban significantly reduced paid labor for urban boys and increased the share who attended only school, with evidence that effects persisted beyond the enforcement age.\"}]",1784501598,50,{"code":4,"msg":30,"data":31},"ok",{"site_id":24,"language":23,"slug":32,"title":13,"keywords":33,"description":14,"schema_data":34,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":27},"the-short-and-longer-term-effects-of-a-child-labor-ban","",{"@graph":35,"@context":84},[36,53,67],{"@type":37,"itemListElement":38},"BreadcrumbList",[39,43,47,50],{"item":40,"name":41,"@type":42,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":44,"name":45,"@type":42,"position":46},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":42,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":42,"position":52},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-short-and-longer-term-effects-of-a-child-labor-ban/113223/",4,{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":23,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":40,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-19",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"What policy change does the paper analyze?","Question",{"text":74,"@type":75},"The study analyzes Brazil’s 1998 law that increased the minimum employment age from 14 to 16.","Answer",{"name":77,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":78},"How does the paper identify the effects of the child labor ban?",{"text":79,"@type":75},"It uses a regression discontinuity design to compare outcomes around the age threshold created by the law.",{"name":81,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":82},"What were the main short- and longer-term outcomes reported?",{"text":83,"@type":75},"The ban significantly reduced paid labor for urban boys and increased the share who attended only school, with evidence that effects persisted beyond the enforcement age.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":51,"og:type":86,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":88,"canonical":51},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":24},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":91},[92,96,100,104,109,113,118,121,125,128,132],{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":28,"slug":112},6,"Technology","technology",{"id":114,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":115,"show_sort_weight":116,"slug":117},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":119,"slug":120},30,"research-report",{"id":122,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":123,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":124},9,"Religion & Spirituality","religion-spirituality",{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":127},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":129,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":129,"slug":131},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":133,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":45,"category_name":134,"show_sort_weight":105,"slug":135},19,"General","general"]