Labor Inspections as Law Enforcement on Child Labor in Brazil

Empirical evidence on the effect of the inspection activities conducted by the Brazilian Ministry of Labor and Employment is rare. This paper puts forward the hypothesis that inspection activities reduce the child labor rate in Brazilian states. To reach that conclusion, we used aggregate data from National Household surveys, the Ministry of Labor and Employment, and the Ministry of Social Development to estimate a dynamic panel data model. Results show that inspection activities contributed to reduce the child labor rate. However, the reduction resulting from such law enforcement measure is still modest compared to that resulting from cash transfer programs.