Long-run effects of family policies: An experimental study of the Chinese one-child policy

We present lab-in-the-field experimental evidence of the effects of the Chinese one-child policy on individuals’ preferences and behavior as adults. The experiments were conducted in three different provinces because the policy was not strictly implemented at the same time in all provinces. We measure risk and time preferences, as well as subjects’ competitiveness, cooperation, and bargaining behavior, sampling individuals born both before and after the introduction of the policy. Overall, we do not find any sizeable or statistically significant effects of the one-child policy on preferences or behavior in any of the experiments. These results hold for heterogeneity in the timing of the implementation of the OCP in different provinces, for heterogeneity among individuals, and for various robustness checks.