Abstract
China's policy of one child per family was put in place in 1979 to control population growth in the world's most populous nation. Who complies with the policy, and why? What guidance does economic theory provide? Using microdata available from the 1985 Chinese In-Depth Fertility Survey, a multinomial logit model of family choice with respect to policy compliance is estimated. The results indicate that even after area of residence is taken into account, woman's education, husband's occupation, marriage duration, presence of a son, family structure, and house size significantly influence compliance, while age, child mortality experience, husband's education and woman's occupation apparently do not. The effects of income and wealth remain open questions. Possible explanations are provided.
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The authors are grateful to Trevor Breusch, Martin Browning, Frank Denton, Jerry Hausman, Thomas Kniesner, Lonnie Magee, Michael McAleer, Chris Skeels, Yuk K. Tse, Frank Vella, seminar participants at Australian National, Macquarie, McMaster, and Trent Universities, and to two anonymous referees and John Ermisch for many helpful comments and suggestions. They thank the International Statistical Institute and the State Statistical Bureau of China for access to the 1985 In-Depth Fertility Survey.
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Zhang, J., Spencer, B.G. Who signs China's one-child certificate, and why?. J Popul Econ 5, 203–215 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00172093
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00172093