Remittance Effects on Child Labour: Evidence from Burkina Faso

This article explores the effects of remittance receipt on child labour in an African context. Wefocus on Burkina Faso, a country with a high prevalence of child labour and a high rate of migration. Given thecomplex relationship between remittance receipt and household time allocation decisions, we instrument remittancesusing economic conditions in remittance-sending countries and explore heterogeneous effects acrossdifferent types of potential remitters. While remittances have no significant effect on child labour on average,transfers reduce child labour in long-term migrant households, for whom the disruptive effect of migration is nolonger felt. We find no gender difference but remittances seem to affect mainly the labour market participation ofyounger children.