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α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
It is often argued that child labour is caused by poverty. However, much child labour takes place in rural areas characterized by substantial labour market imperfections. A model of rural household labour supply is developed that provides testable implications for two versions of the poverty hypothesis: that child labour is due to a binding subsistence constraint and that child leisure is a luxury good. We find that in rural Burkina Faso children do not provide labour to meet households' subsistence needs and that child leisure is a normal good. The evidence suggests that labour market imperfections are a main reason for using child labour. Copyright 2007 , Oxford University Press.