Short answer: no – not if the labour is voluntary.
But, but …
Does child labour help children?
Progressives: "Of course not! We should ban it!"
People [like Professor Benjamin Powell] who actually study this issue for a living: "Yes, and banning child labour would leave destitute kids even worse off.
Children don't work because their parents are mean or stupid. They work because they are desperately poor and they don't want to be prostitutes.
Best thing we one percenters* can do: 1. Buy cheap goods. 2. Donate to bottom billion, or pay them to go to school. 3. Promote insitutions that protect economic freedom, private property rights and the rule of law.
Worst thing we can do: 1. Boycott children who labour 2. Call upon politicians to fix it.
* Anyone living in the western world is in the world’s top ‘one percent.’
.
No comments:
Post a Comment