This paper investigates the determinants of child labour on family farms in Ghana and Pakistan on the basis that a comparative perspective offers useful insights. The estimates identify a powerful negative effect of living standards on the work of Pakistani boys. However, for girls in Pakistan as well as for boys and girls in Ghana, household income has no significant impact on work. These results are obtained after instrumenting income, and we may expect to find even weaker income effects in the presence of simultaneity bias. The size of the farm and of the family impact upon child work in Pakistan more than in Ghana, a result that is consistent with population density being greater in Pakistan. A very powerful effect on child work arises from mothers’ education. This effect is larger for boys than for girls, and it is larger in Pakistan than in Ghana.