The Impact of China’s ‘One-Child’ Policy on the Educational Attainment of Adolescents

Abstract

In January 1979 the Chinese government implemented a highly controversial ‘one-child’ policy that set strict limits to the number of children that each couple is allowed to have. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of China’s ‘one-child’ policy on educational attainment. This study uses data from multiple waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey on children ages 11–21 that were born both before (pre-cohort) and after (post-cohort) the implementation of the ‘one-child’ policy. A multi-level mixed effects model is used to determine which household, community and demographic factors impact the educational attainment and progress of Chinese children. The results suggest that more lax enforcement of the ‘one-child’ policy through a ‘girl-exception’ or ‘two-child’ policy has resulted in lower rates of growth in educational attainment and lower overall levels of education for older children. The findings also show that children in communities with the ‘one-child’ subsidy have significantly higher rates of growth in educational attainment and more years of overall education for older children.