Why reform of China's one-child policy has had little effect in boosting fertility levels
Saturday, January 3, 2015 - 01:30
in Psychology & Sociology
The 2013 reforms aimed at relaxing China’s ‘one-child policy’ are likely to have little effect on the country’s long-term demographic trends and the problem of China’s shrinking workforce, a new study shows. It explores why China has only partially lifted its family planning restrictions, suggesting that local governments rely on the income from fines imposed on couples who violate the one-child policy, known as ‘social maintenance fees’. It also argues that it is hard to dislodge the old system because of ‘policy inertia’ due to the vast family planning bureaucracy involved in implementing the one-child policy.