Population Policy and Human Capital Accumulation in China

Abstract

China, the most populous country in the world, has had high economic growth during the past two decades. While economic reforms in China have received a great deal of attention, researchers have paid far less attention to the effects of population policies. In this dissertation, I discuss the One-Child policy in China and its impact on human capital accumulation. I examine the impact of family size on parental health outcomes by exploiting the exogenous change in family size under the One-Child Policy in China. The results indicate that the number of children in a family significantly affects measures of health, such as weight and blood pressure. The impact of women's relative bargaining power on household food consumption and health outcomes are also examined in this dissertation. I find no significant effects of bargaining power and common preference could not be rejected.