Do secure land use rights reduce fertility? The case of Meitan County in China.

摘要

Based on the belief that collective land ownership is pro-natalist, the Chinese government experimented in a remote southwestern county (Meitan, Guizhou province) in 1987 with the practice of freezing land reallocations in response to demographic change for twenty years. Premising on the norm of a two-children family in rural China, evidence from 232 households suggests that demand for the third child is attributable to strong son preference. Neither secured land rights nor family planning policy can curb such a proclivity. The experiment has, however, stimulated an active land rental market, which may have long-term profound implications for the development of private land rights and fertility behaviour..