Restrictive fertility policy and elderly suicides: evidence from China

Manfei Li and Uwe Sunde
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Manfei Li: LMU Munich
Uwe Sunde: LMU Munich

JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, 2025, vol. 91, issue 1, 166-190

Abstract: This paper presents an empirical investigation of the hypothesis that exposure to the restrictive fertility policies of the Chinese “Later, Longer, Fewer” campaign in the 1970s contributes to the dynamics and patterns of elderly suicides in China in the period 2004–2017. We apply an identification strategy that exploits variation in exposure to this policy across birth cohorts that is based on the different timing of the implementation of the fertility policies across Chinese provinces. The results show that cohorts with a greater exposure to the restrictive fertility policy in the 1970s exhibit higher suicide rates during old ages.

Keywords: China; Elderly suicides; Fertility decline; Fertility policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J10 J11 J13 J14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-03-25
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ctl:louvde:v:91:y:2025:i:1:p:166-190

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