A Case for “Reverse One-Child” Policies in Japan and South Korea? Examining the Link Between Education Costs and Lowest-Low Fertility

Poh Lin Tan (), S. Philip Morgan () and Emilio Zagheni ()
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Poh Lin Tan: National University of Singapore
S. Philip Morgan: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Emilio Zagheni: University of Washington at Seattle

Population Research and Policy Review, 2016, vol. 35, issue 3, No 3, 327-350

Abstract: Abstract Household spending on children’s pre-tertiary education is exceptionally high in Japan and South Korea, and has been cited as a cause of low fertility. Previous research attributes this high spending to a cultural emphasis on education in East Asian countries. In this paper, we argue that institutional factors, namely higher education and labor market systems, play an important role in reinforcing the pressure on parents to invest in their children’s education. We review evidence showing that graduating from a prestigious university has very high economic and social returns in Japan and South Korea, and examine the implications for fertility within the framework of quantity–quality models. Finally, we put forward ‘reverse one-child’ policies that directly address the unintended consequences of these institutional factors on fertility. These policies have the additional virtues of having very low fiscal requirements and reducing social inequality.

Keywords: Lowest-low fertility; Japan; South Korea; Education; Quantity–quality model; Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11113-016-9390-4

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