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Do only children have poor vision? Evidence from China's One‐Child Policy

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  • Liqiu Zhao
  • Minghai Zhou

Abstract

This paper examines whether only children have poor vision by exploiting the quasinatural experiment generated by the Chinese One‐Child Policy. The results suggest that being an only child increases the incidence of myopia by 9.1 percentage points. We further investigate the mechanisms through which being an only child affects the myopia and find that only children, as the only hope in a household, receive higher expectations in terms of academic performance and future educational attainment and pressure to succeed in life from parents, which contribute to the increased myopia. We also find that the school quality of only children is significantly higher than that of non‐only children. This study provides new insights into an important health consequence of One‐Child Policy in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Liqiu Zhao & Minghai Zhou, 2018. "Do only children have poor vision? Evidence from China's One‐Child Policy," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(7), pages 1131-1146, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:27:y:2018:i:7:p:1131-1146
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.3661
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mark R. Rosenzweig & Junsen Zhang, 2009. "Do Population Control Policies Induce More Human Capital Investment? Twins, Birth Weight and China's "One-Child" Policy," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 76(3), pages 1149-1174.
    2. Yuyu Chen & Hongbin Li & Lingsheng Meng, 2013. "Prenatal Sex Selection and Missing Girls in China: Evidence from the Diffusion of Diagnostic Ultrasound," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(1), pages 36-70.
    3. Fei Wang & Liqiu Zhao & Zhong Zhao, 2017. "China’s family planning policies and their labor market consequences," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(1), pages 31-68, January.
    4. Huang, Wei & Zhou, Yi, 2015. "One-Child Policy, Marriage Distortion, and Welfare Loss," IZA Discussion Papers 9532, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Glewwe, Paul & Park, Albert & Zhao, Meng, 2016. "A better vision for development: Eyeglasses and academic performance in rural primary schools in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 170-182.
    6. Gary S. Becker & H. Gregg Lewis, 1974. "Interaction between Quantity and Quality of Children," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 81-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Weng, Yulei & Yang, Xiaocong, 2023. "Fertility behaviors and mid-late-life health status in China: From a life-course perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 338(C).
    3. Haiyang Lu & Peng Nie & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2021. "The Effect of Parental Educational Expectations on Adolescent Subjective Well-Being and the Moderating Role of Perceived Academic Pressure: Longitudinal Evidence for China," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(1), pages 117-137, February.

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