Crop Choice, School Participation, and Child Labor in Developing Countries: Cotton Expansion in Burkina Faso
研究了布基纳法索农村棉花种植扩张对儿童上学和童工的影响，发现棉花扩张提高了女孩入学率并减少了童工，但对男孩无显著影响。
We estimate the effects of changes in cotton adoption on children's schooling and child labor in rural Burkina Faso. Using time and spatial variations, we find evidence that expansion of cotton farming has led to an increase in enrollment and to a reduction of participation in child labor for girls. There are, however, no detectable effects on boys. In theory, cotton adoption could increase household income, leading to increased demand for schooling and reduced child labor. On the other hand, because children are productive on cotton farms, adoption of cotton could increase the opportunity cost of child time and the demand for child labor. We provide suggestive evidence showing that boys are more productive than girls on cotton farms. Taken together, the results suggest that the income effect from cotton adoption might have been larger than the wage effect for girls, hence the overall positive impacts on school enrollment for girls.