Author Description

My study shows that the selective Two-child Policy positively resulted in 0.274 and 0.332 more children per household in the urban and rural areas in China, respectively. The effect was more noticeable in the first few years of the policy implementation, while younger women were more responsive to the policy. The quantity of the incremental fertility was still mild to moderate. On the aspect of labor supply, the effect on female labor supply was negative for both areas. The policy shock decreased the female annual working hours in a range of 80-96 hours (or 3-5% on average); while it also reduced the probability of women participating in the labor market by 1.4% to 1.6% (or 1.7-1.9% on average). The effect of the policy on their husbands' labor supply varied substantially. The effect on the older child's education was negative as expected, and the impact was much larger for rural children. Additionally, the policy effect on urban women's marital status was positive, meaning that couples who are eligible to have the second child were less likely to divorce.