现代化与低生育率陷阱——东亚国家与地区生育政策的转向与反思

现代化与低生育行为互为强化的关系,使低生育率陷阱构成现代化发展的泥潭困境。同处东亚的日本、韩国、新加坡等东亚儒家社会和中国具有文化社会结构的共通性,在不同时期都经历过低生育率及严重人口老龄化问题。中国应从日本、韩国等东亚国家并不成功的人口政策方案汲取经验教训,正视低生育率危害,缩短生育政策观察期窗口,尽快解除生育管制,优化制度环境,构建生育友好型社会。     

生育政策调整是否会影响我国“碳达峰”目标的实现?——基于STIRPAT和Leslie模型的实证研究

以中国人口生育政策调整为研究背景,基于STIRPAT模型和Leslie模型综合考察中国人口生育政策调整可能对实现“我国二氧化碳排放力争2030年前达到峰值”目标所带来的影响。结果表明,除了经济发展水平、能源技术水平、能源消费结构等因素外,人口年龄结构对人均碳排放也具有显著影响。在论文设置的四种生育率情景下,人口总量峰值分别出现在2025年、2027年、2031年和2027年。若生育政策调整能够有效提高社会总和生育率,人口规模和人口年龄结构的变化会使碳排放总量峰值推后出现。因此,中国逐步放宽的人口生育政策可能会给实现碳达峰目标带来一定压力。     

2008年中国人口生育问题研究综述

中国自90年代进入低生育率阶段以来,生育水平持续下降。低生育水平、低生育率的后果及低生育水平的应对问题,引起了社会各界的广泛关注。2008年学界深入探讨低生育水平及变动趋势,对低生育水平的社会后果及其应对策略给予了前所未有的关注,低生育水平下的出生性别比偏高问题成为2008年低生育水平后果研究的热点。对2008年中国生育问题研究的主要成果进行了系统的梳理和总结。     

生可生 非常生——我国人口生育发展趋势的细分化研究

低生育是后计生时期的标志性特征,在当前,我国人口生育已经进入超低生育水平阶段。与人口控制决策因素相伴随的是人口惯性的产生,因此,反映在人口总量上仍然表现为增长趋势,然而事实上,人口的低生育水平已经远远背离了生育更替水平的基本要求。值得关注的是,人口低生育的持续发展,又会给经济、社会与人口安全带来严峻的后果,为此,根据人口的不同背景,实行生育决策细分化,其中包含有差别的生育放开决策,就是势在必行之举。为此,我们总的指导思想是:生可生,非常生。     

中国生育政策与生育率趋势研究

受生育政策影响,中国总和生育率已提前进入超少子化发展阶段。生育政策放宽影响具有一定的局限性,对生育率短期激励提升作用明显,其中对二孩及以上平均生育率、生育旺盛期的育龄妇女生育率和镇育龄妇女生育率的激励提升作用较为显著。但2020年后,总和生育率仍将持续下行。遏制生育率下滑趋势,需要制定以鼓励生育、促进人口长期均衡发展为导向的《人口法》,建立涵盖生育、托育、养育、教育的全周期鼓励生育政策体系。     

后人口转变时期中国人口政策的思考

人是生产力中最活跃、也是最具决定性的因素。人口形势决定一个国家一定时期的宏观决策。中国因执行"一胎化"计划生育政策,30年间少生了4亿人口,不仅有效扼制了人口过快增长,且为后来经济发展奇迹打下了坚实基础。但该政策也累积了严重的负效应,给人口安全、经济增长和社会稳定带来一定隐患。如果继续推行该政策,生育率会持续下降,且再难以逆转,负效应会更加凸显。面对后人口转变时期的人口趋势,中国当前应在坚持"计划"生育的同时,尽早把握时机,调整生育政策,在未来30年间,从允许生育二胎向鼓励生育二胎转变,从控制人口数量向提升人口质量转变,以使人口与经济、社会能够协调发展和可持续发展。     

从以人为本看我国人口问题与生育政策

我国人口低生育水平正在摆脱"人工控制"性质,越来越具有由经济社会发展驱动的自然性质。人口多少是个相对于经济社会发展的问题,只要经济社发展,人口多也不是大问题。在进入低生育率20年以后的今天,我国人口控制任务已接近基本完成,目前人口较多是历史遗留产物,继续保持超低生育率并不能解决人口多的问题,相反对未来人口、经济、社会平稳发展构成巨大威胁。我国人口多还会持续相当长时间,对此需坦然面对和积极应对。从以人为本科学发展观看,放宽现行生育政策势在必行,取消-孩政策迫在眉睫,这不仅是为了人口经济社会长期平稳发展,更是生育权利的合理回归和保障家庭发展与幸福。     

放开二胎政策不应再拖延

人口政策是关系国家民族发展全局的大事,理应高度重视、深入探讨,到了一定时候,也是需要果断决策的重大现实问题. 2013年11月,十八届三中全会决定启动实施“单独二孩”政策,标志着中国生育政策朝着新阶段上的正确方向迈出了实质性的一步.然而,中国人口生育政策的调整已经滞后了若干年,“单独二孩”政策还达不到十八届三中全会所要求的“促进人口长期均衡发展”的目标.要实现这一目标,需要使生育率逐步提升到世代更替水平附近.因此,有必要进一步调整人口政策,应尽快放开二胎生育.     

关于进一步完善生育政策的若干认识问题

生育政策调整是目前敏感而备受关注的热点问题之一。对坚持现行生育政策不变的理由进行了系统的梳理,逐条分析了这些理由的充分性与合理性。源于生育政策调整的生育率反弹、在生育率水平未明了之前不应进行生育政策调整等都不能成为维持生育政策不变的充分理由。即将来临的第四次出生高峰是人们“臆构”出来的,实际上它根本就不存在。就在生育政策调整问题上全国各地是否应该齐步走以及究竟应该吸取哪些“开小口”的教训等展开了讨论。就人口发展中的欧洲现实、日本经验与韩国教训进行了考察分析。     

城市化进程中的生育政策取向研究——基于山东及部分二孩试点地区的经验分析

由于城市化进程的推进,农民和市民收入出现多元化,现行城乡有别的生育政策难以继续贯彻执行,客观上要求城乡统一生育政策。分析了20世纪70年代"晚、稀、少"政策、二孩生育政策试点的计划生育效果,当前的人口形势,不同生育政策下的政策生育率,国际社会的经验等问题,提出了我国未来生育政策的取向。     

二孩政策地区经验的普适性及其相关问题——兼对“21世纪中国生育政策研究”的评价

在仔细研读"21世纪中国生育政策研究"课题系列研究报告的基础上,认为二孩政策试点成效卓著,试点经验具有普适性,但同时也存在某些局限。国家与学者应切实承担起指导中国基层人口与计划生育工作实践的责任。生育政策、生育水平、出生性别比、计划生育工作之间并非简单的线性关系,在生育政策制定与调整中价值判断与事实判断两者不可偏废。部分省份某些计划生育利益导向政策缺乏正当性,应该予以废除。     

On the relationship between fertility and public national debt

Public debt and fertility are two issues of major concern in the current economic policy debate, especially in countries with below-replacement-fertility and large debt (which appears further enlarged as a consequence of the recent world financial distress 2008–2009). In this paper we show that, at the steady state, public debt is in general harmful for fertility, in that debt issuing almost ever crowds fertility. The relationship is however reversed if debt is sufficiently low and the share of capital (labor) in the economy is sufficiently low (high). Hence, our analysis would recommend that developed, capital intensive economies (such as OECD countries) aiming at a fertility recovery should reduce national debt, while developing, labor intensive economies, aiming at reducing fertility, should increase (reduce) national debt only if they are debt virtuous (vicious).     

The Optimal Level of Debt in an OLG Model with Endogenous Fertility

Abstract. In the present work we extend Diamond's OLG model by allowing for endogenous fertility and look at the consequences of such an extension on the rules for optimal public debt issuing. In particular, we show that the condition according to which the rate of growth of population should be higher than the interest rate is no longer sufficient for obtaining welfare improvements via debt increases and that the level of optimal debt is, ceteris paribus, lower than the one arising with exogenous fertility. Finally, a sensitivity analysis shows that the optimal level of debt is higher the lower the capital share, the higher individuals' degree of patience, the bigger the child‐rearing cost and the lower the preference for children. On policy grounds we argue that debt‐tightening policies may be optimal in the long run provided that the cost of rearing children does not increase (or, if anything, does decrease).     

代际流动约束下生育率与收入不平等关系的国际检验

收入不平等问题和人口生育率过低问题是当下中国面临的两大难题,但目前理论界关于人口因素与收入不平等关系的研究,很少从生育率视角来考察以及考虑代际收入流动在其中的作用.文章从理论与经验两个方面来考察生育率对收入不平等的影响,理论模型表明:在关于代际收入流动的假设下,一个经济体中生育率的提高会使穷人比重提高,进而拉大收入不平等.进一步地,文章利用1970-2011年76个国家(地区)面板数据的经验研究发现:(1)总和生育率的提高会拉大收入不平等,如果每个妇女平均多生育一个孩子,将会使基尼系数增加0.025;(2)以出生率作为总和生育率替代指标的实证结果与基准结果基本一致,这说明不同生育率测算指标高度相关且可相互替代;(3)对于代际收入流动弹性越高、收入水平越低或生育率越高的国家(地区),其生育率提高对收入不平等的拉大作用越大.文章关于生育率对收入不平等影响的作用机制和异质性特征的考察,对于我国如何在实施"全面二孩"政策下寻求应对严峻的收入分配问题之策提供了国际经验和启示.     

Effect of social security on fertility and savings: an overlapping generations model

Old-age pension schemes do not exist in most developing countries, so adults bear children as security investments for the future. This phenomenon leads to unduly high rates of population growth. It has been hypothesized that introducing social security programs in such countries would increase savings rates and reduce the number of children born over the long term. The author studies the general equilibrium effects of some social security programs on rates of population growth and capital accumulation within an overlapping generations framework with endogenous fertility and savings. Specifically, Raul's overlapping generations growth model is extended to study the general equilibrium effects of payroll-tax-financed and child-tax-financed social security programs. It is shown that if the rate of intergenerational income transfers from young to old or child care cost is low, competitive equilibrium leads toward overpopulation and capital accumulation in a modified Pareto optimal sense; a social security program in such a case is therefore Pareto improving. A fully-funded system is not neutral when financed by child taxes. Finally, it is also shown that unlike in the case of exogenous fertility where competitive equilibrium attains steady state only asymptotically, fertility, when endogenous, may attain a unique globally steady state in finite time.     

Fertility,Female Labor Supply,and Family Policy

The present paper develops an overlapping generations general equilibrium model for Germany in order to study the impact of public policy on household labor supply and fertility decisions. Starting from a benchmark equilibrium which reflects the current German family policy regime we introduce various reforms of the tax and child benefit system and quantify the consequences for birth rates and female labor supply. Our simulations indicate three central results: First, higher transfers to families (either direct, in‐kind or via family splitting) may increase birth rates significantly, but they may come at the cost of lower female employment. Second, the introduction of individual taxation (instead of joint taxation of couples) would increase female employment but might further reduce current birth rates in Germany. Third, it is possible to increase birth rates and female employment rates simultaneously if the government invests in child care facilities for children of all ages.     

低生育稳定期:中国特色的人口转变阶段

从人口转变角度审视和分析当前中国人口发展的形势,提出中国的人口转变有一个独特的阶段,即低生育稳定期。分析了低生育稳定期的阶段性特征。这个时期问题复杂,趋向明朗,是主要矛盾转换期和生育政策调整期。还分析了这一时期中国人口发展战略目标的转换及相应的对策。     

Perspectives on International Trends and Dynamics in Population and Consumption

There are increasing concerns that global environmental limits may soon be met as a result of increasing numbers of people coupled with increasing consumption of resources. However, the current level and rates of growth in both consumption and population vary systematically among countries grouped according to income levels. Many high income countries have population growth rates at close to replacement levels, but their per capita consumption is consistently several times higher than low income countries. Low income countries need to grow out of poverty and have high population growth rates. Using current population structures for India and the USA in an age-structured demographic model, and simple projections of annual reductions in fertility or consumption per capita over the next 50 years, we show that while reductions in both consumption and fertility are necessary to stabilize impacts, there are short term gains from consumption reductions in high income countries such as the USA, and long term gains from early fertility reductions in growing economies such as India.     

Saving,fertility and public policy in an overlapping generations small open economy

Motivated by the recent increase of public debt experienced by many developed countries, we develop an OLG model to provide the fiscal policies needed for any public debt level to be sustainable in steady state and the consequences that such policies produce on saving and fertility in a small open economy. Our main finding is that a reduction of public debt (an event currently publicly debated) needs tax adjustments that eventually will be detrimental for both fertility and saving under a low-interest-rate regime (possibly similar to the current world regime), with opposite transitional effects on fertility and saving. On the contrary, the needed fiscal adjustments will eventually increase saving and fertility under a high-interest-rate regime, with opposite transitional effects on fertility and saving. Besides providing clear-cut policy implications, our analysis offers possible testable implications concerning the pattern of fertility, taxes and public debt observed in many developed economies.