The one-child policy: A macroeconomic analysis

Pei-Ju Liao ()

Journal of Development Economics, 2013, vol. 101, issue C, 49-62

Abstract: This paper studies the effects of China's one-child policy. Using a calibrated general-equilibrium model, a benchmark with a fertility constraint in place is compared to a counterfactual experiment without the fertility constraint. The results indicate that the implementation of the one-child policy promotes the accumulation of human capital and increases per capita output. In addition, the policy leads to different welfare effects across generations and skill groups. The initial generation would benefit from relaxing the one-child policy, but the following generations would be hurt. A redistribution effect between skilled and unskilled workers is also observed. These findings demonstrate that focusing solely on GDP per capita as a measure of economic well-being paints an incomplete picture of the welfare consequences of population policies.

Keywords: The one-child policy; Fertility; Population policies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J13 O11 O53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304387812000740
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:101:y:2013:i:c:p:49-62

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2012.09.001

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Development Economics is currently edited by M. R. Rosenzweig

More articles in Journal of Development Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().