Contextualizing child labor reforms: Education policy, legal bans, and female child labor in rural South India

• Economics literature often views child labor laws as generally ineffective. • This perspective misses the broader policy context influencing such reforms. • India’s 2012 Child Labor Act followed significant reforms improving girls’ education. • These reforms shifted perceptions of the value of girls’ education. • Using Young Lives data and triple difference methodology, reforms reduced female child labor. The prevailing consensus in the economics literature suggests that child labor laws are generally ineffective. However, this view often overlooks the broader policy context that shapes such reforms. India's 2012 Child Labor Amendment Act emerged after a period of significant reform aimed at improving girls' education, particularly through the 2009 education reforms. This paper sustains that these reforms potentially altered societal perceptions regarding the marginal value of girls' education, while the Child Labor Act highlighted the hazards of child labor in agriculture. Together, these measures may have created a more favorable environment for reducing rural female child labor. Using panel data from Young Lives and a triple difference-in-difference methodology, this study documents a significant reduction in female child labor in rural India. The findings highlight the importance of contextualizing legal reforms and emphasize the need for nuanced assessments to better understand their heterogeneous outcomes.