Between Ethics and Science: Economic and Political Arguments Against Child Labor in the Progressive Period

Child labor was a very important issue during the progressive period, which was characterized by the development of social policies, especially regarding the welfare of women and children. The arguments against child labor were not restricted to a moral point of view but attempted to point out the economic dimensions, with several prominent economists of the progressive period becoming involved in this debate. In this paper, we will analyze the way economists in the progressive period approached the issue of child labor, notably through the views of two leading economists of the period that were particularly concerned with this problem, one representing the Protestant economics' strand (Richard T. Ely) and the other the Catholic economics' one (John A. Ryan). We explore the convergence and the nuances in the positions of these two economists in the criticisms against child labor. Finally, we briefly present that important role of several social organizations advocating legislation curbing child labor and the way these networks converged in their activities with progressive economists in disseminating the arguments against child labor.