Spatial Variation of the One-Child Policy and Child Nutritional Status in the Reform-Era China, 1993-2000

Juhua Yang, Brown University

Using data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), this paper examines the effect of spatial variations of the one-child policy on the nutritional status of children 0-6 years of age over the period 1993 to 2000. I explore a broad range of factors related to child physical growth, measured as height-for-age, weight-for-age and weight-for-height, at the community, household, and individual levels. More importantly, I include direct measures of the one-child policy, drawing on local variations, to make inferences about policy effects. I adopt multilevel and multivariate analysis, which allows me to partition the overall variability in child nutrition into a part which can be attributable to provinces and communities, a part which can be attributable to households and a part which can be attributable to individual child. My analysis also allows me to make inference about the one-child policy effect above and beyond economic development.