Since 1979 the one-child policy has been effecting family planing in China. The law had it that urban couples could only have one child unless special circumstances such as twins or if both parent had been only children themselves. Rural Chinese and some ethnic minorities were excluded from the rule. But now, the government plans to extend the privilege of having more than one child to those families in which a single parent is an only child. This measure comes as China’s population ages and fears over the nation’s future labor pool and competitive advantage are becoming a not so distant prospect. The move comes amid other policy announcements including an end to labor camps, various banking measures, and SOE’s tax rates.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303289904579199431427590394?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories
It is interesting to compare the two issues of a reduced labor pool versus overpopulation. One on hand, the Chinese are looking out for themselves and their own future by realizing that limiting each family to one child will make it much more difficult to create a large, diverse human labor pool. On the other hand, overpopulation is becoming a serious global issue, and while China may not be the top culprit, their cities are becoming vastly overpopulated and pollution is a very negative side effect. I think that this policy change does a good job of walking the line, however, because they are still enforcing the one-child policy, but are giving a little more leniency for families that do not have many relatives, cousins, or siblings.
The movie, TO LIVE, showed hospitals and birthing rooms under Chairman Mao. Incompetency and lack of knowledge led to the death of the daughter in childbirth. Nowadays, Chinese families worry less about incompetency and more about doctors being overtired and just pushing people through the process to get done. Doctors in China are not paid as much as in the United States and quality of services depending on the city may not be clean or up to code. If doctors were paid more might they be less willing to preform unlawful abortions or gender-section services?
I agree with the above comment, the pay probably has a lot to do with the problems. It is hard to imagine the cooperation of the doctors with the government policies to be especially rigid considering their low incomes. The scene from To Live was really striking to me involving the doctors and how they are treated.
I also find this interesting in relation to Mark’s presentation today on the Chinese furniture market. The overall messages was to move to the outer-lying smaller Asian countries for furniture production, as their comparative advantage may be greater, but they simply don’t have the thriving labor force that China has. In this case, China’s population is their only advantage.