Demand for coca leaves, from which cocaine is produced, has pushed a generation of children in Peru out of school and into lives of crime, a recent paper shows
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskIn the late 1990s Colombia, then the world’s leading coca producer , launched a campaign against drug gangs. Bolstered by Plan Colombia, a package of military and financial aid from the United States, the effort included spraying crop-killing chemicals in coca-growing areas. As a result, the country’s coca output fell for a while. With less supply and no change in demand, prices rose.
To measure this effect, Ms Sviatschi linked agricultural and ecological data with household surveys and drug prices. She found that in 1997-2003, as coca prices surged, the child-labour rate in coca-growing areas rose by 30% and the share of children set to begin secondary school who dropped out increased by 26%. These rates did not rise as much in other parts of Peru.
Ms Sviatschi did find one promising remedy. In theory, if parents had their kids grow coca because it was the only way to make ends meet, they might keep their children in school if given economic alternatives. And during the relevant time period, some districts in coca-growing zones ran a cash-transfer scheme that gave families $30 a month—a 20% increase in income, on average—if their children met certain criteria, such as attending 85% of classes in school. Other regions did not.
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