Child labor and youth crime: evidence for Brazil

Abstract

Purpose

In addition to being a violation of human rights, the practice of child labor can be related to criminality against young people. In view of this, the hypothesis tested in this article was that child labor aggravates youth homicide through educational level.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used annual data for the 26 states plus the Federal District for the period 2001 to 2014. To do so, the authors used the iterated feasible generalized least squares (IFGLS) estimator under the seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) model.

Findings

The results showed that child labor positively affects the homicide of young people, showing education as a transmission channel through which the effect is materialized. The general conclusion, given this, that work is an alternative for children not to enter the world of crime due to its socializing character, cannot be sustained.

Practical implications

This evidence provides input to the formulation of policies and programs to eradicate or slow child labor. In addition to the social and economic rise of individuals, it is important to emphasize the role of education (human capital) in explaining economic growth.

Originality/value

So far, there is no record of national research that sought to empirically assess the effect of child labor on crime, in particular, on the homicide of young people, considering education as a transmission channel, and this assessment is the contribution of the present study to the economic literature on crime.

Peer review

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-03-2023-0163

Citation

Santos, F.R.N., Lírio, V.S. and dos Santos, A.M.A. (2024), "Child labor and youth crime: evidence for Brazil", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 51 No. 9, pp. 1093-1108. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-03-2023-0163