How Does Credit Access Affect Children's Time Allocation?: Evidence from Rural India

Using a unique dataset obtained from rural Andhra Pradesh, India that contains direct observations of household access to credit and detailed time use, results of this study indicate that credit market failures result in a substantial reallocation of time use pattern by children, leading to a significant increase in remunerative work and a similarly significant decrease in leisure time. While the direct impact on schooling time per se does not appear to be large, longer work and shorter leisure could arguably constrain effective learning opportunities of children, hampering human capital formation.