Child Work and Schooling in Rural India: What Do Time Use Data Say about Trade

This study examines time use data for 1,244 children in the age group 6–12 years in 274 villages in eight states in rural north India to understand the trade-offs between time spent in school, time spent at work, time spent on home study and leisure. Using a Seemingly Unrelated Regressions Model, we find that there seems to be no trade-off between time spent at school and at work, whereas leisure time and home study appear to be compromised for the sake of work. Only a few variables influence allocation of time to different activities across the board