Informal Institution Meets Child Labor: The Role of Clan

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In developing countries, formal institution is usually under-developed, and informal institution often plays important role in many aspects. This paper investigates how informal institution affects the incidence of child labor in rural China. Using genealogy as a proxy for clan culture, we find that a household that keeps a genealogy has significant lower incidence of child labor for boys, but not for girls. This reflects the patriarchal nature of clan in China.