Do housing booms reduce fertility intentions? Evidence from the new two-child policy in China

Lina Meng, Lu Peng and Yinggang Zhou

Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2023, vol. 101, issue C

Abstract: To ease pressure from the aging population, the Chinese government implemented a two-child policy for couples where either the husband or the wife is from a single-child family in 2014. Using this policy as a quasi-natural experiment, we find that housing booms inhibit the potential desire for more children. A one-standard-deviation increase in the housing price-income ratio decreases the probability of migrant couples’ intention to have a second child by 7.69%, with the effect being concentrated on renters. Housing booms affect couples’ desired fertility through negative income and high opportunity cost channels. (JEL code: R31, J13, J38).

Keywords: Housing boom; Two-child policy; Fertility intension; Income effect; Opportunity cost (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:regeco:v:101:y:2023:i:c:s0166046223000558

DOI: 10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2023.103920

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