The long-term consequences of China's “Later, Longer, Fewer” campaign in old age

Abstract

We examine how China's “Later, Longer, Fewer” (LLF) policies in the early 1970s affect the quality of life of the Chinese elderly forty years later. We identify the causal impact of the LLF policies by exploiting the provincial heterogeneity in policy implementation. We find that the LLF policies reduced the total fertility rate by 1.57 from 1969 to 1978, explaining about half of the decline in fertility during this period. Parents do not receive fewer financial support as a consequence, but they have fewer children living close by and receive fewer contacts and visits from children. We find that the impacts of the family planning policies on elderly parents' physical and mental well-being are drastically different: parents more exposed to family planning policies do not suffer from worse physical health status, but report more severe depression symptoms.