Do you think there's the possibility that families are kept out of severe poverty because their children can be utilized to earn the family money? Do you think lowering the options for families will increase their quality of life?
If you do believe those things I'm certainly not one to say you're wrong. I could imagine a scenario where removing all child labor is beneficial to the whole, but I do think it's a much more simple model to believe that the more options a family has, the better off they are long term.
Of course all of this rests on child labor being a choice for the family and not compulsory, something I don't know the specifics of for every situation.
As a counter point - do you think that Apple, a company with an immense amount of cash in their warchest, could afford to simply pay people in the area more thus removing the necessity for the child labour to occur to support the family?
Economics isn't simple, but Apple is benefiting immensely from the low cost of employment through these subcontractors and we, as apple consumers, are absolutely allowed to judge companies that exploit overseas labour and refuses to pay for local labour - and that extends to employing people we'd consider children.
Companies don't get a "get out of bad PR free" card just because the child exploitation is occurring in a part of the world where it may be considered ethical.
got any examples of child labor leading to prolonged poverty? South Korea had tons of child labor just a generation ago and they quickly became a highly developed nation with maybe among the best healthcare in the world.
Interesting how the decline of child labor in Korea is followed by a booming high tech economy while regions that remain affixed to the practice havent
the rapid growth of wealth being closely (in timeline) associated with a decrease in child labor would suggest that wealth decreases child labor, not that the decrease of child labor increases wealth - as the mechanism for growth via children learning instead of working is a long term strategy.
If you do believe those things I'm certainly not one to say you're wrong. I could imagine a scenario where removing all child labor is beneficial to the whole, but I do think it's a much more simple model to believe that the more options a family has, the better off they are long term.
Of course all of this rests on child labor being a choice for the family and not compulsory, something I don't know the specifics of for every situation.