Employment and Fertility in Rural China: Implications for the “One–Child” Policy

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Citation

Fang, Hai; Eggleston, Karen N.; Rizzo, John A.; & Zeckhauser, Richard J. (2010). Employment and Fertility in Rural China: Implications for the “One–Child” Policy.

Abstract

We study how off-farm employment affects actual and desired fertility using data on 2,288 married women from the 2006 China Health and Nutrition Survey. Causality flows in both directions; hence, we use instrumental variables – validated by a number of statistical tests -- to estimate employment status. Off-farm employment reduces the actual number of children by 0.64, the desired number of children by 0.48, and the probability of having more than one child by 54.7%. Having a first child who is a son lowers fertility (both actual and preferred). We discuss the implications of our results for China’s one-child policy.

URL

http://www.webmeets.com/files/papers/ESWC/2010/2147/Econometric%20Society%20World%20Congress%202010%20Zeckhauser.pdf

Reference Type

Report

Year Published

2010

Author(s)

Fang, Hai
Eggleston, Karen N.
Rizzo, John A.
Zeckhauser, Richard J.