Fertility Effects on Parents' Subjective Well-being

本文基于2010年中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)数据,利用中国1988年以来实行二胎生育政策这一背景,以第一个孩子的性别作为生育水平的工具变量估计了生育水平对父母主观幸福感的因果性影响。结果显示,更多的孩子会使父亲对事业和未来都更有信心,而母亲则会更加快乐、对生活更满意、对未来更有信心且对自身社交能力评价更高。这种生育效应的性别分布体现了当代中国社会残存的家庭内部分工传统。同时,从生育作为个人基本权利的角度来看,得以生育二胎的个人比只能生育一胎的个人享受了更多的自由,这可能是他们拥有更强的主观幸福感的另一原因。这意味着随着我国逐步放开二胎政策,父母的主观幸福感水平将得到进一步改善。 

Using data from the 2010 Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS) .this paper utilizes the instrumental variable ( IV) approach to estimate the fertility effects on parental subjective well-being, with gender of the first child serving as the IV for the likelihood to have a second child. Results show that fathers gain self-confidence in both career and the future, and mothers are happier, more satisfied with life, more confident in the future, and report better social ability. This gendered distribution of the fertility effects reveals within-household gender-role specialization. Moreover, since the right to fertility is a fundamental human right, those who can have more than one child may have enjoyed more options and thus better subjective well-being than those who can only have one child. Our results suggest that along with China's gradual transition to a universal two-child policy, individuals' subjective well-being will be further improved.

穆峥 谢宇

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