In difesa del lavoro minorile

Children at Work – More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics
Steven E. Landsburg –

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Punti chiave: L’ Africa di oggi è un po’ come l’ottocento europeo (dove non esistevano multinazionali sfruttatrici): chi allora avesse invocato leggi contro il lavoro minorile nel nostro continente sarebbe stato, giustamente, considerato un pazzo – Considerate una legge che ci obbligasse a comprare una Ferrari. Come la giudichereste? – Le scelte dei poveri sono generalmente assennate, comprese quelle dei genitori poveri – La nostra esperienza: è la ricchezza a togliere i bambini dal posto di lavoro, non le leggi – Vuoi aiutare l’Africa? manda soldi, evita leggi cervellotiche che probabilmente si riveleranno dannose – 

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Dr. David Livingstone, the African explorer, medical missionary, and hero of the Victorian Age, began his career at age ten, working 84-hour weeks at the local cotton mill.

Note:LIVINGSTONE

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protesters’ call for trade agreements that “protect” third-world children by limiting the number of hours they can work

Note:LA PROTEZIONE INVOCATA

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Being poor means making hard choices, such as whether to work more or to eat less.

Note:LE SCELTE DEI POVERI

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In fact, third worlders are making pretty much exactly the same choices that Americans and other Westerners made, back in the nineteenth century

Note:OTTOCENTO EUROPEO

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In England in 1860, about 37 percent of 10-to 14-year-old boys were classified as “gainfully employed”…In present-day Africa, it’s under 30 percent, and in India it’s half that….

Note:PERCENTUALI

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In the United States between 1890 and 1930, per capita income rose by 75 percent and child labor fell by about the same percentage.

Note:PIÙ RICCHI MENO BIMBI AL LAVORO

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there were no foreign corporations in Victorian Britain and children went to work just the same.

Note:LE CATTIVA MULTINAZIONALI CHE NON C’ERANO NELL’OTTOCENTO

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Multiple studies have shown that in developing countries, most parents take their children out of the labor force as soon as they can afford to.

Note:GENITORI CHE VOGLIONO BENE AI LORO FIGLI

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If there’s a key difference between Western historical experience and the current situation in the third world, it’s this: when we were poor, nobody else was rich

Note:LA DIFFERENZA

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responses endorsed by the anti-sweatshop crowd—kick back, relax, keep your environment clean, and don’t worry so much about where your next meal is coming from—are responses that have never worked well for poor

Note:RILASSATEVI!

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If you think you can make third worlders better off by forcing them to make first-world-style decisions about labor and the environment, why stop there? Why not require them all to buy Sony PlayStations?

FERRARI OBBLIGATORIA!