IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/tpr/restat/v103y2021i4p694-710.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fertility Restrictions and Life Cycle Outcomes: Evidence from the One-Child Policy in China

Author

Listed:
  • Wei Huang

    (Emory University and National University of Singapore)

  • Xiaoyan Lei

    (Peking University)

  • Ang Sun

    (Renmin University of China)

Abstract

This study considers the experience of China's one-child policy to examine how fertility restrictions affect economic and social outcomes over a lifetime. Using variations in these penalties across provinces and over time, we find that exposure to stricter fertility restrictions when young leads to higher education levels, more white-collar jobs, delayed marriage, and lower fertility rates. Further consequences include lower rates of residing with the elderly and higher household income, consumption, and savings. Finally, exposure to stricter fertility restrictions in early life increases female empowerment. Overall, fertility restrictions imposed when people are young have powerful effects throughout their life cycle.

Suggested Citation

  • Wei Huang & Xiaoyan Lei & Ang Sun, 2021. "Fertility Restrictions and Life Cycle Outcomes: Evidence from the One-Child Policy in China," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 103(4), pages 694-710, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:103:y:2021:i:4:p:694-710
    DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_00921
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_00921
    Download Restriction: Access to PDF is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1162/rest_a_00921?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 look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

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


    Cited by:

    1. Lucie Giorgi & Eva Raiber, 2024. "For better or for babies: The effect of the two-child policy in China on who gets married," French Stata Users' Group Meetings 2024 13, Stata Users Group.
    2. Yi Chen & Yingfei Huang, 2020. "The power of the government: China's Family Planning Leading Group and the fertility decline of the 1970s," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 42(35), pages 985-1038.
    3. Erten, Bilge & Leight, Jessica & Zhu, Lianming, 2023. "The Effects of FDI Liberalization on Structural Transformation and Demographic Change: Evidence from China," IZA Discussion Papers 16094, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Chen, Yi & Zhao, Yi, 2022. "The timing of first marriage and subsequent life outcomes: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 713-731.
    5. Yue Sun & Liqiu Zhao & Zhong Zhao, 2024. "Hukou Status and Children’s Education in China," Working Papers 2024-004, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    6. Rao, Ziwei, 2021. "Do children prevent their poor old parents from working?," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242424, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Yiming Liu & Yi Han, 2023. "Responsibility-Shifting through Delegation: Evidence from China’s One-Child Policy," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 400, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    8. Murach, Michael & Wagner, Helmut & Kim, Jungsuk & Park, Donghyun, 2022. "Trajectories to high income: Comparing the growth dynamics in China, South Korea, and Japan with cointegrated VAR models," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 492-511.
    9. Nie, Peng & Peng, Xu & Luo, Tianyuan, 2023. "Internet use and fertility behavior among reproductive-age women in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    10. Sun, Yue & Zhao, Liqiu & Zhao, Zhong, 2024. "Hukou status and children's education in China," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1386, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    11. Xiuling Chen & Jie Li, 2024. "Facilitating Knowledge-Driven Economic and Social Development: the Significance of Demographic Transformation in Tourism Villages in China," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 13890-13918, September.
    12. Rao, Ziwei & Zhang, Yi, 2024. "Rely on children or work longer? The impact of fertility and child gender on old-age labor supply," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    13. Yujie Wang & Run Ge & Wenjing Gao & Dunzhe Tang, 2024. "How Does Fertility Policy Relaxation Affect Household Financial Asset Allocation? Evidence from the Universal Two-Child Policy in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-23, January.
    14. Chen, Yi & Fang, Hanming, 2021. "The long-term consequences of China's “Later, Longer, Fewer” campaign in old age," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    15. Tan, Jing & Xu, Hao & Yu, Jingwen, 2022. "The effect of homeownership on migrant household savings: Evidence from the removal of home purchase restrictions in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    16. Meng, Lina & Peng, Lu & Zhou, Yinggang, 2023. "Do housing booms reduce fertility intentions? Evidence from the new two-child policy in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    17. Lin, Siyuan & Argys, Laura M. & Averett, Susan L., 2023. "Exposure to the One-Child Policy and Fertility among Chinese Immigrants to the US," IZA Discussion Papers 16329, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Yi Chen & Hanming Fang, 2018. "The Long-Term Consequences of Having Fewer Children in Old Age: Evidence from China’s “Later, Longer, Fewer” Campaign," NBER Working Papers 25041, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Nana Chen & Hangtian Xu & Yang Xu, 2024. "Family planning and fertility inequality: Evidence from the abolition of China's one‐child policy," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 86-117, March.
    20. Shuxi Zeng & Fan Li & Peng Ding, 2020. "Is being an only child harmful to psychological health?: evidence from an instrumental variable analysis of China's one‐child policy," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 183(4), pages 1615-1635, October.
    21. Bansak, Cynthia & Dziadula, Eva & Wang, Sophie Xuefei, 2024. "How China's "Later, Longer, Fewer" Campaign Extends Life Expectancy: A Study of Intergenerational Support for Elderly Parents," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1403, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    22. Zhou, Xiaoyao & Ye, Jingjing & Li, Hao & Yu, Hongyan, 2022. "The rising child penalty in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    23. Chae, Minhee & Meng, Xin & Xue, Sen, 2023. "Fertility, Son-Preference, and the Reversal of the Gender Gap in Literacy/Numeracy Tests," IZA Discussion Papers 16208, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J00 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - General
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    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:tpr:restat:v:103:y:2021:i:4:p:694-710. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: Kelly McDougall (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://direct.mit.edu/journals .

    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.