So, I’ve been watching a few videos about child labor that I need for a scholl project. This one [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUDJNwHngVI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUDJNwHngVI) caught my attention, most specifically in a part in which a solution mentioned for this issue is to “adopt institutions that support economic freedom, private property rights, and the rule of law. What does this exactly mean? And how does it help with solving child labor? Please help me, I’m so nervous, and be as detailed as possible. Thank you!
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That is basically saying having a liberal “western” style society, where everyone and everything (including the state and its agents) are subordinate to and subject to the law, where the state and the upper class cannot arbitrarily violate people’s rights or get away with crimes.
Think about all the massively corrupt countries in the world. Corruption is mostly illegal in these places. Why does it persist? Weak rule of law. The government and the wealthy can violate the law without consequences. They can take from and extort the people, force them to do what they want for employment. Similar with child labor. It is almost universally illegal, but that means nothing if the law is not respected and enforced on the perpetrators.
This is the standard (and probably correct) response for why so many shitholes around the world never seem to get better. The West has a strong and mostly uninterrupted history of rule of law. Westerners are usually naturally outraged when their government acts clearly improper with respect to basic law, which in most places is actually much older than the country itself. Even the scummiest western politicians wouldn’t contemplate super flagrant displays of contempt for the law and the limitations it places on their power. It is theorized that this state of affairs is a basic requirement for a highly-functional free society, which is what is probably needed to actually create and enforce child labor laws.
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