Working Paper: NBER ID: w26492
Authors: Xiaojia Bao; Sebastian Galiani; Kai Li; Cheryl Long
Abstract: In the past 40 years, a large number of children have been abandoned or abducted in China. We argue that the implementation of the one-child policy has significantly increased both child abandonment and child abduction and that, furthermore, the cultural preference for sons in China has shaped unique gender-based patterns whereby a majority of the children who are abandoned are girls and a majority of the children who are abducted are boys. We provide empirical evidence for the following findings: (1) Stricter one-child policy implementation leads to more child abandonment locally and more child abduction in neighboring regions; (2) A stronger son-preference bias in a given region intensifies both the local effects and spatial spillover effects of the region's one-child policy on child abandonment and abduction; and (3) With the gradual relaxation of the one-child policy after 2002, both child abandonment and child abduction have dropped significantly. This paper is the first to provide empirical evidence on the unintended consequences of the one-child policy in terms of child trafficking in China.
Keywords: Child Abandonment; Child Abduction; One-Child Policy; China; Son Preference
JEL Codes: J12
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Stricter implementation of the one-child policy (J13) | Increase in child abandonment locally (J13) |
| Stricter implementation of the one-child policy (J13) | Increase in child abduction in neighboring regions (J13) |
| Stronger son preference bias (J79) | Amplifies local and spillover effects of the one-child policy on child abandonment (J13) |
| Stronger son preference bias (J79) | Amplifies local and spillover effects of the one-child policy on child abduction (J13) |
| Gradual relaxation of the one-child policy after 2002 (J13) | Drop in child abandonment rates (J13) |
| Gradual relaxation of the one-child policy after 2002 (J13) | Drop in child abduction rates (J13) |