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Do Fertility Control Policies Affect Health in Old Age? Evidence from China's One‐Child Experiment

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  • Asadul Islam
  • Russell Smyth

Abstract

How do fertility control policies contribute to the welfare of women, and their husbands, particularly as they get older? We consider whether the reduction in fertility resulting from population control policies has had any effect on the health of elderly parents in China. In particular, we examine the influence of this fertility decline, experienced due to China's one‐child policy, on several measures of the health of parents in middle and old age. Overall, our results suggest that having fewer children has a positive effect on self‐reported parental health but generally no effect on other measures of health. The results also suggest that upstream financial transfers have a positive effect on several measures of parental health. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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  • Asadul Islam & Russell Smyth, 2015. "Do Fertility Control Policies Affect Health in Old Age? Evidence from China's One‐Child Experiment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(5), pages 601-616, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:24:y:2015:i:5:p:601-616
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.3047
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    2. Laura M. ARGYS & Susan L. AVERETT, 2019. "The Effect of Family Size on Education: New Evidence from China's One-Child Policy," JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 85(1), pages 21-42, March.
    3. Jos'e-Ignacio Ant'on & Juan Ponce & Rafael Mu~noz de Bustillo, 2024. "Road to perdition? The effect of illicit drug use on labour market outcomes of prime-age men in Mexico," Papers 2405.10884, arXiv.org.
    4. Yongkun Yin, 2022. "Intergenerational Transmission of Fertility: Evidence from China’s Population Control Policies," Working Papers wp2022_2211, CEMFI.
    5. Yun Liang & John Gibson, 2017. "Do More Grandchildren Lead to Worse Health Status of Grandparents? Evidence from the China Health and Nutrition Survey," Working Papers in Economics 17/18, University of Waikato.
    6. 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).
    7. 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).
    8. XIE Mingjia & YIN Ting & ZHANG Yi & OSHIO Takashi, 2022. "The Hidden Cost of Having More Children: The Impact of Fertility on the Elderly's Healthcare Utilization," Discussion papers 22033, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    9. 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.
    10. 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.

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