scholarly journals Investigating Fertility Intentions for a Second Child in Contemporary China Based on User-Generated Content

Author(s):  
Ying Qian ◽  
Xiao-ying Liu ◽  
Bing Fang ◽  
Fan Zhang ◽  
Rui Gao

China’s two-child policy, aimed at boosting the country’s total fertility rate, has failed to achieve the desired outcomes. Previous studies on low fertility rates mainly used data obtained from demographic censuses, questionnaires, or interviews. These data-gathering methods are costly, entailing time delays and yielding limited information. User-generated content (UGC) provides an alternative data source. We propose a machine–human hybrid approach using UGC obtained from social media to assess users’ intentions to have a second child. Our results showed that couples associate a second child with high economic costs mainly through negative impacts on the mothers’ careers, with no concomitant economic benefits. A key motivation for having two children relates to the mental benefit of the joy in having children. However, raising a second child also entails considerable mental costs such as exhaustion and pressure. Couples largely seek help within their extended families, that is, their parents are major sources of child-rearing support. Therefore, the government should devise ways of reducing the negative impacts of having a second child on a woman’s career and provide child-rearing support to help increase the fertility rate. Our proposed approach can also be used to elicit the reasons for low fertility rates in other countries.

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-75
Author(s):  
Yana A. Skryabina

The article is devoted to the analysis of the fertility rate dynamics in the Republic of Bashkortostan and the study of the reproductive behaviour of the population entering into a registered marriage. The author examines the crude and total fertility rates, the net population reproduction rate, the total fertility rate by the order of births, as well as age-specific fertility rates. In addition, basing on the data of population surveys, the author regards reproductive intentions of citizens applying for marriage in the registry office, as well as reasons that may prevent them from having a child. The study shows that the Republic of Bashkortostan is characterized by a low fertility rate; the generation of children does not replace the generation of parents. The reproductive intentions of the respondents measured by the desired and expected number of children correspond to the small (two-child) family model. Among the main reasons that can prevent the birth of a child, the first two are financial and housing difficulties, and third is the desire to live for oneself for a while.


Author(s):  
I-Shiang Tzeng ◽  
Kuo-Hu Chen ◽  
Yungling L. Lee ◽  
Wen-Shan Yang

Taiwan and a few Asian societies have had among the lowest fertility rates in the world for the past decade. Understanding the reasons behind the low fertility and designing policies accordingly to improve fertility has been a priority of governments in the region. It what follows we examine the low fertility rate in Taiwan by studying the trend of actual fertility rate and desired fertility rate in Taiwan using an age-period-cohort (APC) model. Using the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) of contraception survey data between 1973 and 2004, we applied APC analyses on the actual fertility rate and desired fertility rate of married women. We found that youngest cohorts (the mid-cohort year 1983) had 10% higher actual fertility and 15% higher desired fertility compared to those who were born in 1959–1965, respectively. Additionally, we attributed current lowest-low fertility (at or below 1.3) to late marriages. There is a lag between the actual and desired fertility rates in KAP survey due to tempo effect. Furthermore, the trends of the cohort effects of both fertility rates in KAP surveys are reversing in Taiwan. Consequently, increase total fertility rate (TFR) should encourage marriage among the marriageable population and reward married and childbearing households.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 401
Author(s):  
Woong Bee Choi ◽  
Dongyeol Lee ◽  
Woo Chang Kim

The Korean National Pension Service (NPS) is a partially funded and defined-benefit system. Although the accumulated Fund of the NPS has been increased gradually, this large fund is concerned about depletion in the near future due to the unprecedented aging population and the low fertility rate. In this study, we have developed an asset-liability management (ALM) model that endogenizes variables which were regarded as being exogenous by including them in investable assets. We present the multistage stochastic programming (MSP) formulation incorporating the population structure as a variable that is new to ALM. The optimal portfolio encompassing the investment in raising the fertility rate is obtained. Extending the scope of ALM to social investment is a new approach that has not been attempted in other ALM studies. We demonstrate that socially driven investments can also be a good investment asset in which the NPS should consider to invest.


2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Hritz ◽  
Craig Ross

Sport tourism is one of the fastest growing market segments in the tourism industry and is receiving increased attention for its social, environmental, and economic impacts upon destinations. Prior research in tourism impacts has tended to focus exclusively on tourism as a whole and does not differentiate among the different types of tourism that may be present in a destination. The purpose of this study was to examine how residents of Indianapolis, Indiana perceived the impacts sport tourism has upon their city. A total of 347 surveys were returned in a mailed questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a four factor structure of social benefits, environmental benefits, economic benefits, and general negative impacts. Social and economic benefits were strong predictors for support for further sport tourism development revealing a strong identification with the advantages of sport tourism in their city such as an increased cultural identity and social interaction opportunities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1052
Author(s):  
Rares Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir ◽  
Gianluca Egidi ◽  
Rosanna Salvia ◽  
Luca Salvati ◽  
Adele Sateriano ◽  
...  

Fertility is a spatially non-stationary property of regional demographic systems. Despite the wealth of quantitative (micro–macro) information delineating short-term population dynamics in advanced economies, the contribution of economic downturns to local fertility has still been under-investigated along urban–rural gradients, especially in low-fertility contexts. Recent studies have assumed suburban fertility rates as systematically higher than urban and rural fertility rates. This assumption (hereafter known as the “suburban fertility hypothesis”) has been grounded on stylized facts and spatial regularities in advanced economies that reflect a significant role of both macro (contextual) and micro (behavioral) factors that positively influence fertility in suburban locations. To test the suburban fertility hypothesis at the macro-scale, the present study compares gross fertility rates from seven regional units of the Athens metropolitan area between 1991 and 2018. A refined spatial analysis of gross fertility rates during an economic expansion (1999–2008) and recession (2009–2018) was carried out in 115 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities of the same area. Experiencing sequential waves of economic expansion and recession, Athens’ socio-demographic dynamics were considered a sort of “quasi-experiment” for Southern Europe, linking late suburbanization with the multiple impacts of (rapid) economic downturns. Compared with both urban and rural locations, a higher fertility rate in suburban municipalities (15–20 km away from downtown Athens) was observed during the study period. However, a subtle distinction was observed during the economic expansion versus the recession. In the first period, the highest birth rates were recorded in industrial locations west of Athens, hosting economically disadvantaged communities with a relatively young population structure. With the recession, the highest fertility was associated with residential and service-specialized (wealthier) locations east of Athens, attracting resident population from neighboring areas, and better responding to crisis. The results of our study document how recent urban expansion and economic downturns have intrinsically shaped fertility dynamics, with implications for urban sustainability and social cohesion of metropolitan regions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (01) ◽  
pp. 175-190
Author(s):  
JR-TSUNG HUANG ◽  
JIUN-NAN PAN ◽  
MING-LEI CHANG ◽  
SHIH-YI YOU

Since the economic consequences of a low fertility rate, such as a change in consumption patterns, might affect the path of economic growth, this study investigates how the relationship between the low fertility rate and consumption behavior in Taiwan has changed over time. Using county-level panel data from 1995 to 2014 to examine the impact of the low fertility rate on the consumption behavior of households in Taiwan, the major finding of this study is that a low fertility rate will change the behavior and the composition of consumption. A low fertility rate will increase the share of the total consumption expenditure in a household’s disposable income, in particular, in relation to the consumption categories of food, health care, education, and transportation and communication, but will decrease the share of expenditure on clothing in the household’s disposable income.


2015 ◽  
Vol 87 (3) ◽  
pp. 1691-1699 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARCELO C. SOUZA ◽  
AUGUSTO C. FRANCO ◽  
MUNDAYATAN HARIDASAN ◽  
DAVI R. ROSSATTO ◽  
JANAÍNA F. DE ARAÚJO ◽  
...  

Despite limitations of low fertility and high acidity of the soils, the cerrado flora is the richest amongst savannas. Many cerrado woody species show sclerophyllous leaves, which might be related to the availability of water and nutrients in the soil. To better understand the function and structure of cerrado vegetation within its own variations, we compared two cerrado communities: one in its core region in central Brazil (Brasília, DF) and the other on its southern periphery (Itirapina, SP). We contrasted the length of the dry season, soil fertility rates, leaf concentrations of N, P, K, Ca and Mg and the specific leaf area (SLA) between these communities. The dry season was shorter on the periphery, where the soil was more fertile although more acidic. Plants from the periphery showed higher SLA and higher leaf concentrations of N, P, Ca and Mg. We propose that the higher SLA of plants from the periphery is related to the shorter dry season, which allows better conditions for nutrient uptake.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hampton Gray Gaddy

Increasing development is historically associated with fertility declines. However, demographic paradigms disagree about whether that relationship should hold at very high levels of development. Using national-level data through 2005, Myrskylä, Kohler, and Billari (2009) found that very high levels of the Human Development Index (HDI) were associated with increasing total fertility rates (TFR). This paper updates that finding with data up to 2017. It investigates whether the observed association has continued to hold for the countries originally studied and whether it holds for countries that have more recently reached very high HDI. For countries that reached HDI ≥ 0.8 in 2000 or before (n=27), the data indicate no clear relationship between changes in HDI and TFR at HDI ≥ 0.8. There is also no clear relationship for countries that reached HDI ≥ 0.8 between 2001 and 2010 (n=13). For countries that reached HDI ≥ 0.8 in 2000 or before, there appear to have been notable increases in TFR between 2000 and 2010, but those gains appear to have completely reversed between 2010 and 2017. The past finding of TFR increases at very high levels of development has not borne out in recent years. In fact, TFRs declined markedly in very high development countries between 2010 and 2017. This paper contributes to the debate over the relationship between development and fertility. That debate has an important bearing on how low fertility is conceived by social scientists and policymakers.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen-Hao Hsu

There has been much debate over the micro-level relationship between employment situations and fertility in Europe and Northern America. However, related research in East Asia is scant, although countries in this region have some of the lowest fertility rates in the world. Moreover, most studies analyze the employment-fertility relationship from a static perspective and only for women, which underemphasizes life-course dynamics and gender heterogeneity of employment careers and their fertility implications. Drawing on retrospective data from the 2017 Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS), this study explores women’s and men’s career trajectories between ages 18 and 40 in Taiwan using sequence cluster analyses. It also examines how career variations associate with different timing and quantum of birth. Empirical results show that economically inactive women experience faster motherhood transitions and have more children by age 40 than women with stable full-time careers. For men, having an unstable career associates with slower fatherhood transitions and a lower number of children. For both genders, self-employed people are the earliest in parenthood transitions and have the highest number of children by midlife. Our findings demonstrate sharp gender contrasts in employment careers and their diversified fertility implications in low-fertility Taiwan


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