Workıng Papers

Agenor, P-R. and Alpaslan, B. (2013): ''Child Labor, Intra-Household Bargaining and Economic Growth'' , Centre for Growth and Business Cycle Research  (CGBCR) Discussion Paper No. 181, University of Manchester. 

Abstract: This paper develops a three-period, gender-based overlapping generations model of endogenous growth with endogenous intra-household bargaining and child labor in home production by girls. Improved access to infrastructure reduces the amount of time parents find optimal for their daughters to spend on household chores, thereby allowing them to allocate more time to studying at home. The model is calibrated for a low-income country and various quantitative experiments are conducted, including an increase in the share of public spending on infrastructure, an increase in time allocated by mothers to their daughters, and a decrease in fathers’ preference for their daughters’ education. Our analysis shows that poor access by families to infrastructure may provide an endogenous explanation, beyond social norms and cultural values, for the persistence of child labor at home and gender inequality in low-income countries.

Please click on the following link to access the paper:

 http://hummedia.manchester.ac.uk/schools/soss/cgbcr/discussionpapers/dpcgbcr181.pdf

Alpaslan, B. and Burchell, B. (2022): "Gender Inequality, Social Capital, and Economic Growth in Turkey"

Abstract: Although sociologists have already recognised the gender aspect of social capital, to date it has not yet been systematically investigated in an endogenous growth model. In pursuing this objective theoretically, we draw on Agénor and Canuto (2015) that has offered a three-period (childhood, adulthood, and old age) gender-based Overlapping Generations (OLG) framework, but we explore a different mechanism through which social capital may explain gender equality and prospects for economic growth in Turkey. This paper contributes in several ways to understanding the pivotal role of social capital in the process of economic development. First, social capital gives individuals a great sense of community and feelings of pleasure, and therefore we consider social capital as a possible driving factor of labour productivity. Second, in our model setting, survival rate for adults is determined by the average social capital level of men and women because individuals who are less socially integrated are more likely to have high mortality rates than people with strong ties to their community. Third, we elucidate an important, but understudied, trade-off between time allocated by women to market work and social capital-enhancing activities, and show that these two components of time allocation have opposite effects on intra-household bargaining power. 

Please click on the following link to access the paper: 

https://crawford-prod.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/2025-01/57_2022_alpaslan_burchell.pdf