The Limits (And Human Costs) of Population Policy: Fertility Decline and Sex Selection in China under Mao

Kimberly Babiarz, Paul Ma, Grant Miller and Shige Song
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Kimberly Babiarz: Stanford University
Paul Ma: University of Minnesota
Grant Miller: Stanford University
Shige Song: City University of New York

No 505, Working Papers from Center for Global Development

Abstract: Most of China’s fertility decline predates the famous One Child Policy—and instead occurred under its predecessor, the Later, Longer, Fewer (LLF) policy. Studying LLF’s contribution to fertility and sex selection behavior, we find that it i) reduced China’s total fertility rate by 0.9 births per woman (explaining 28% of China’s modern fertility decline), ii) doubled the use of male-biased fertility stopping rules, and iii) promoted postnatal neglect (implying 210,000 previously unrecognized missing girls). Considering Chinese population policy to be extreme in global experience, our paper demonstrates the limits of population policy—and its potential human costs.

Keywords: fertility; sex selection; family planning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 60 pages
Date: 2019-03-21
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cna, nep-dem and nep-tra
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cgd:wpaper:505

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