IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/asieco/v89y2023ics1049007823000866.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Preventing a new baby: Impact of air pollution on fertility intention

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Guanglai
  • Yu, Yanni

Abstract

This study is the first to investigate the causal link between air pollution and fertility intentions in China, using data from the 2016 China Labor-Force Dynamic Survey to assess the fertility intentions of different sexes for differentiated groups of respondents. The findings show significant negative effects of air pollution on immediate fertility intentions. Specifically, a one standard deviation increase in the daily Air Quality Index in the past three months decreased the immediate fertility intention of interviewees by 0.7527 standard deviations. Moreover, the study reveals that young women who live in more polluted areas show a higher reduction in fertility intention than their counterparts. The results illustrate that air pollution is a key contributor to the son preference and that there is still a marked preference for sons over daughters in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Guanglai & Yu, Yanni, 2023. "Preventing a new baby: Impact of air pollution on fertility intention," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:89:y:2023:i:c:s1049007823000866
    DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2023.101666
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1049007823000866
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.asieco.2023.101666?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Monica Das Gupta & Jiang Zhenghua & Li Bohua & Xie Zhenming & Woojin Chung & Bae Hwa-Ok, 2003. "Why is Son preference so persistent in East and South Asia? a cross-country study of China, India and the Republic of Korea," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 153-187.
    2. Francine D. Blau & Lawrence M. Kahn & Peter Brummund & Jason Cook & Miriam Larson-Koester, 2020. "Is there still son preference in the United States?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 709-750, July.
    3. Aparna Mitra, 2014. "Son Preference in India: Implications for Gender Development," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(4), pages 1021-1037, December.
    4. Sara Cools & Rannveig Kaldager Hart, 2017. "The Effect of Childhood Family Size on Fertility in Adulthood: New Evidence From IV Estimation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 54(1), pages 23-44, February.
    5. Zhang, Xin & Zhang, Xiaobo & Chen, Xi, 2017. "Happiness in the air: How does a dirty sky affect mental health and subjective well-being?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 81-94.
    6. Zhang, Xin & Zhang, Xiaobo & Chen, Xi, 2017. "Valuing Air Quality Using Happiness Data: The Case of China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 29-36.
    7. Peter Franklin & Mark Tan & Naomi Hemy & Graham L. Hall, 2019. "Maternal Exposure to Indoor Air Pollution and Birth Outcomes," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-10, April.
    8. Shihe Fu & V Brian Viard & Peng Zhang, 2021. "Air Pollution and Manufacturing Firm Productivity: Nationwide Estimates for China [Management and shocks to worker productivity]," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(640), pages 3241-3273.
    9. Chew, Soo Hong & Yi, Junjian & Zhang, Junsen & Zhong, Songfa, 2017. "Risk Aversion and Son Preference: Experimental Evidence from Chinese Twin Parents," IZA Discussion Papers 10519, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Milazzo, Annamaria, 2018. "Why are adult women missing? Son preference and maternal survival in India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 467-484.
    11. Libois, François & Somville, Vincent, 2018. "Fertility, household size and poverty in Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 311-322.
    12. Deschenes, Olivier & Wang, Huixia & Wang, Si & Zhang, Peng, 2020. "The effect of air pollution on body weight and obesity: Evidence from China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    13. Kathrin Morosow & Martin Kolk, 2020. "How Does Birth Order and Number of Siblings Affect Fertility? A Within-Family Comparison Using Swedish Register Data," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(2), pages 197-233, April.
    14. Koolwal, Gayatri B., 2007. "Son Preference and Child Labor in Nepal: The Household Impact of Sending Girls to Work," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 881-903, May.
    15. Zhang, Yiyun & Luh, Yir-Hueih, 2018. "Grandparents' health and family fertility choice: Evidence from Taiwan," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 294-308.
    16. Shiyu Bo, 2018. "Son preference, children’s gender and parents’ time allocation: evidence from China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(45), pages 4830-4846, September.
    17. Xuwen Gao & Ran Song & Christopher Timmins, 2022. "The Fertility Consequences of Air Pollution in China," NBER Working Papers 30165, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhang, Guanglai & Zhang, Ning, 2024. "Environmental regulation and worker earnings: Evidence from city-level air quality standards in China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nahid Tavassoli, 2021. "The Gender-Biased Fertility Behavior: Evidence from Southeast Asian Countries," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 2, pages 235-261, July.
    2. Asadullah, M. Niaz & Mansoor, Nazia & Randazzo, Teresa & Wahhaj, Zaki, 2021. "Is son preference disappearing from Bangladesh?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    3. Yuli Ye & Qinying He & Qiang Li & Lian An, 2024. "The brother's penalty: Boy preference and girls' health in rural China," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(8), pages 1748-1771, August.
    4. Yayun Ren & Jian Yu & Guanglai Zhang & Chang Zhang & Wenmei Liao, 2023. "The Short- and Long-Run Impacts of Air Pollution on Human Health: New Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-23, January.
    5. Huang, Zibin & Jiang, Xu & Sun, Ang, 2024. "Fertility and delayed migration: How son preference protects young girls against mother–child separation," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    6. Cui, Jingbo & Huang, Shaoqing & Wang, Chunhua, 2023. "The impact of air quality on innovation activities in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    7. Luojia Wang & Kerui Du & Bin Fang & Rob Law, 2023. "Escape from air pollution: How does air quality in the place of residence shape tourism consumption?," Tourism Economics, , vol. 29(4), pages 1074-1099, June.
    8. Chao Xu & Xiulei Wang, 2022. "Air Pollution and Migration Intention: Evidence from the Unified National Graduate Entrance Examination," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-19, July.
    9. Bansak, Cynthia & Jiang, Xuan & Yang, Guanyi, 2022. "Sibling spillovers in rural China: A story of sisters," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    10. Yao, Yao & Li, Xue & Smyth, Russell & Zhang, Lin, 2022. "Air pollution and political trust in local government: Evidence from China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    11. Li, Xue & Smyth, Russell & Yao, Yao, 2023. "Extreme temperatures and out-of-pocket medical expenditure: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    12. Xie, Tingting & Yuan, Ye & Zhang, Hui, 2023. "Information, awareness, and mental health: Evidence from air pollution disclosure in China," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    13. Wang, Mingyue & Sun, Tianshi, 2023. "Leave for where? The impact of air quality on migration: Evidence at the city-pair level in China," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    14. Zhenyu Yao & Wei Zhang & Xinde Ji & Weizhe Weng, 2023. "Short-Term Exposure to Air Pollution and Cognitive Performance: New Evidence from China’s College English Test," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 85(1), pages 211-237, May.
    15. Pan Zhang & Zhiguo Wang, 2019. "PM 2.5 Concentrations and Subjective Well-Being: Longitudinal Evidence from Aggregated Panel Data from Chinese Provinces," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-13, March.
    16. Zhang, Shaohui & Guo, Qinxin & Smyth, Russell & Yao, Yao, 2022. "Extreme temperatures and residential electricity consumption: Evidence from Chinese households," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    17. Lin, Jiada & Wan, Haiyuan & Yu, Yangcheng, 2024. "What you breathe makes you poor: The effect of air pollution on income," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    18. Arik Levinson, 2020. "Happiness and air pollution," Chapters, in: David Maddison & Katrin Rehdanz & Heinz Welsch (ed.), Handbook on Wellbeing, Happiness and the Environment, chapter 9, pages 164-182, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Briole, Simon & Le Forner, Hélène & Lepinteur, Anthony, 2020. "Children’s socio-emotional skills: Is there a quantity–quality trade-off?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    20. Guo, Liwen & Cheng, Zhiming & Tani, Massimiliano & Cook, Sarah & Zhao, Jiaqi & Chen, Xi, 2022. "Air Pollution and Entrepreneurship," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1196, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Air pollution; Fertility intention; Son preference;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:asieco:v:89:y:2023:i:c:s1049007823000866. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/asieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.