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Why Did China’s Population Grow So Quickly?

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  • Howden, David
  • Zhou, Yang

Abstract

By the 1970s, China’s communist government faced a looming resource constraint in “caring” for its nearly 1 billion citizens, necessitating a policy to alleviate the crippling aftermath of nearly 30 years of rapid population growth. The one-child policy of 1979 was the result, and it has since become heralded as an effective government policy to save humans from their lack of reproductive restraint. In this article we explain why population growth in China was so strong from 1949-79, and why the one-child policy was seen as the best solution. Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the government promoted pro-natalist policies and remunerated families not according to their productivity but by the number of workers. Faced with general economic scarcity from the communist regime’s poor economic policies, parents pursued children as the sole means to avoid an otherwise bleak lifestyle.

Suggested Citation

  • Howden, David & Zhou, Yang, 2015. "Why Did China’s Population Grow So Quickly?," MPRA Paper 79795, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:79795
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Howden & Yang Zhou, 2014. "China's One-Child Policy: Some Unintended Consequences," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 353-369, October.
    2. Chan, Alfred L., 2001. "Mao's Crusade: Politics and Policy Implementation in China's Great Leap Forward," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199244065.
    3. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    4. Jeremy Greenwood & Ananth Seshadri & Guillaume Vandenbroucke, 2005. "The Baby Boom and Baby Bust," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(1), pages 183-207, March.
    5. Watson, Andrew, 1983. "Agriculture looks for `shoes that fit': The production responsibility system and its implications," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 11(8), pages 705-730, August.
    6. Krusekopf, Charles C., 2002. "Diversity in land-tenure arrangements under the household responsibility system in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(2-3), pages 297-312.
    7. Douglas Almond & Hongbin Li & Shuang Zhang, 2019. "Land Reform and Sex Selection in China," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(2), pages 560-585.
    8. Kenli Schoolland, 2012. "The China Model: Is It A Golden Formula?," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 88-90, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Zhou, Yang, 2018. "Do ideology movements and legal intervention matter: A synthetic control analysis of the Chongqing Model," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 44-56.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    one-child policy; labor shortage; China; Malthusian;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • P2 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies
    • P20 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist and Transition Economies - - - General

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