Chinese president Xi Jinping (left) Image Source: Flickr/APEC
First of all, experts are out on if this shift will actually solve the problems China currently faces, as an increasingly urbanized, wealthy China means that both a need and a desire for second and third children has naturally fallen. With that said, Quartz senior Asia correspondent Adam Pasick has laid out a few projections:
More consumer spending: “Allowing more couples to have more children now should boost consumption almost right away for goods like infant formula, food and clothing, and education services,” Pasick said.
An improved reputation: Pasick cites Bank of America China economists Ting Lu and Xiaojia Zhi, who say that top Chinese officials will “use the opportunity of abolishing the one-child policy to build up their authority, show their determination in making changes and convince the Chinese people that they do have a roadmap for reform.”
A healthier housing market: Pasick says that because Chinese couples are often only children, when their parents die they often inherit four homes, leading to excessive housing supply which some believe may lead to a housing market collapse. Pasick tempers that hope with recognition that “the policy’s end should eventually forestall that trend — but it won’t coming fully into effect for decades.”
Increased strain on natural resources: More people means more demand for food, water and housing, Pasick says. This spells trouble for China since he states that “per capita arable land in China is half of the global average and 40 percent of that is considered less economical or uneconomical to farm.”
So there you have it. In short, government interventions can actually exacerbate problems which they hope to solve — and China’s one-child policy is one of many examples.
Savannah Cox holds a Master's in International Affairs from The New School as well as a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, and now serves as an Assistant Professor at the University of Sheffield. Her work as a writer has also appeared on DNAinfo.
John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.
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Cox, Savannah. "10 Questions You Have About China’s One-Child Policy But Are Too Afraid To Ask." AllThatsInteresting.com, October 31, 2015, https://allthatsinteresting.com/china-one-child-policy. Accessed May 8, 2024.
