Saltar para o conteúdo principal

FCCNFCT Digital Services

Access the national information on scientific and technological funding in Portugal

Activity Funded

"Tell me how it was": Public policies and child labor in Portugal and the Portuguese colonies

"Conta-me como foi": Políticas públicas e trabalho infantil em Portugal e nas colónias Portuguesas

Reference
PTDC/IIM-ECO/5303/2014
Project Start Date
2016-07-01
Project End Date
2019-03-31
Principal Investigator
Scientific Area
Social sciences
Funding Program
Projetos de Investigação Científica e Desenvolvimento Tecnológico - 2014

Abstract

Child labor research grew greatly in the last two decades, with about 85% of the child labor literature available at the Web of Science (Business Economics research) having been produced in this period. Theoretical work explaining the evolution of child labor has faced the empirical limitations of cross-section analyses, with a few exceptions where panel data was being collected. Historical analyses of child labor have therefore grown as an alternative longitudinal analysis during the last decade, but the majority of this literature is focused on a few European countries and the US due to the lack of records and research (e.g. Nardinelli1980; Humphries2010). Two main gaps remain. First, the evidence is geographically unequal, with child labor in the European periphery or the colonies remaining under-researched. Second, the literature consists of single country studies, ignoring the potential interactions between countries. This project will address these gaps by examining Portugal and its former colonies. A study of the recent rapid decline in child labor in Portugal is likely to yield a more insightful interpretation of the experience of developed countries, and of which policies are more likely to be effective in today’s developing countries. Its study also allows researching child labor as a transnational phenomenon, particularly the linkages with its former colonies. While the research on Portuguese-speaking countries has been deemed strategic by the Foundation for Science and Technology, FCT, Portuguese colonial records are still underused. Official data, documents portraying the administration and others views, and even the experience of who lived it are rich underused data sources are rare outside of the Western Europe core, magnifying the potential of our research to improve policy. The study of the Portuguese colonies will also contribute to the recent revival of African economic history, as the creation of the African Economic History Network (AEHN) in 2011 or the Economic History Review special issue in 2014 indicate, which however lack works on colonial Portugal. To overturn the current state of affairs, we propose three main work packages (WPs). WP1 proposes to research the policy effectiveness regarding child labor in Portugal. TASK1 contrasts the long-run evolution of child labor in peripheral European countries (1870-2001) and draws on its competing determinants to understand where it declined faster and what drove it. TASK2 contributes to the high-profile debate on the effectiveness of legislation on reducing child labor by distinguishing between the announcement of legislation and its entry into-force. WPs 2 and 3 explore the issue of child labor and schooling in the Portuguese colonies, 1870-1975. The economic interactions between countries could suggest that the decline of child labor in one country could result in a rise of child labor in another country (Edmonds&Pavcnik2006). WP2 explores child labor in the countries with whom Portugal traded most at the heyday of child labor and before its decline: its African colonies. At present there is a far too aggregated and misleading story of child labor and education in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the evidence from Portuguese colonies is particularly absent. By resorting to under used data and publications, WP2 will systematize data on child labor and schooling and put it in a comparative perspective with available evidence from British and French colonial empires. But economics is not so useful in breaking down the black box of policy implementation. For that, we need to triangulate with alternative methods to understand perceptions and opinions of key stakeholders. WP 3 aims to identify sources and documents, compile and qualify data when possible. WP3 will explore two main sources: (i) archival work on communications of colonial officers and statesmen and (ii) interviews with persons who lived in colonial Portugal or had a role in defining and implementing policies. Noteworthy features of the research project include a team combining international leading expertise with local knowledge, which creates value for the national research system. Apart from the two international researchers, two researchers integrated in the national research system have international PhD training, while two others have an in-depth knowledge of colonial archives and debates. Therefore, the research will create national capacity and value Lusophone resources by using underused or unexplored data that can decisively inform key international debates.

Institutions

Main Institutions

  • Universidade de Lisboa Centro de Administração e Políticas Públicas (CAPP)
  • Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas (ISCSP)

Funding 99.912,00 €

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Portugal

99.912,00 €
  • 2016-01-01 a 2021-12-31
  • PTDC/IIM-ECO/5303/2014