Economic Policies in China during 1952-1978 - Case Study Example

Economic Policies in China during 1952-1978 Introduction Republic of China has experienced immense economic growth as a developing nation in the past years mainly due to its sustainable trade, social, and health policies. Adoption of the one-child policy after realization of rapid population growth remained imperative towards realization of sustainable economy. However, the one-child policy have resulted into imbalance in the female to male ratio and realization of unhealthy birth practices including abortion and abandonment of infants. It is indispensable to note that modern developing China requires healthy sustainable economic policies including health education and abandon completely the internationally unaccepted derogatory one-child policy. Background Information Implementation of the policy The People’s Republic of China introduced one-child policy in 1979 to act as a population control initiative with a motive of managing the growing China population. The Chinese government created and implemented the one-child policy in response to the rapidly growing population and the resultant economic and social pressures. Previously during the reign of dynasties and era of Mao Zedong, China population growth rate remained at its minimum. Due to the low population growth rate, Mao Zedong encouraged Chinese citizens to have many children by prohibiting family planning programs. Consequently, Chinese population grew immeasurably causing great strain to the economy and the government. Implementation of the one-child policy remained more successful within urban regions than the rural sectors. Rural settings had the families allowed by the policy to give forth to a maximum of two children if the first-born was a girl. However, couples within urban settings remained restricted to the one-child policy. It is imperative to note that the inherent economic and social reforms have caused great difficulties in implementation of the one-child policy in China. Most often, the policy receives criticism mainly by human rights activists due to the increased levels of female discrimination, unregistered births, abortions, and abandonment of children. Despite the social and economic pressures, the one-child policy has resulted into great reduction of the Chinese population with significant improvement in its economy. Aim of the policy One-child policy creation and subsequent implementation aimed at significant reduction of the increasing Chinese population to manageable levels. The policy aimed at realization of sustainable population and fundamental stability in the Chinese economy. Most importantly, the one-child policy targeted the growing urban population that greatly strained the economy. Couples living in urban regions had restrictions to give birth to one child only. The government aimed at having an economically sustainable urban population to assist in relieving the strain on social and natural resources available to the country. In rural areas, there existed exceptions where families could give birth to two children (BBC 1). However, one-child policy exempted ethnic minority groups and families that had no children from strictness of population control law. It is indispensable to understand that the one-child policy after its existence of more than 30 years has resulted into significant reduction in Chinese population though with marked negative effects to the society. In addition, Chinese economy has also improved immeasurably over the periods since implementation the one-child policy. Persons affected by the policy One-child policy implementation caused great negative effects to various groups within the Chinese society in relation to social and economic pressures. The most affected groups were the female citizens. The female population has suffered from frequent abortion and restrictive birth controls that have the policy has caused them with the aim of reducing number of births. The one-child policy has resulted into increased rate of female suicides and deaths mainly from the fear of facing the law. Consequently, one-child policy that have inherently deprived women of complete subdue of their bodies has caused great reduction in the population ratio of females. Besides women, the girl-child population has also suffered mainly due to increased abortion cases. Most families prefer to have sons as their first-born and would abort or abandon girl child before birth. In addition to the aforementioned groups, adoption programs also remained highly affected mainly due to the one-child policy. Families preferred to have their own children rather than adopting poor and orphaned infants. Consequently, the numbers of the poor population and orphaned children have greatly increased in China. Furthermore, the urban families also suffered immensely from the one-child policy that restricted them to having only a single child. However, the most affected families were the poor couples in comparison to rich individuals. Rich families could corrupt the system and have more than one child within the urban centers. However, the poor families who could not even afford birth control programs greatly suffered in managing the one-child policy after its implementation. Analysis Using basic economic tools Human rights activists’ proponent argues that one-child policy should remain abolished mainly because of its inhumane effects on females and unborn children. Besides the outcry of the human activists due to female and unborn children suffering, the population demographics have also changed. The Chinese would experience an aging population that cannot directly support its economic development programs including provision of labor. The aging population would result into great constrain in labor supply within the country. There would exist immense effects on the supply to the market and entire economy mainly due to decreased labor availability in industries and other production sectors within the economy. Besides constrain on labor supply, one-child policy would increase pressure on the country’s wages, significantly change trade composition and industrial structure, and cause reduction in saving capacity. Moreover, the one-child policy would create pressure to the global supply balance besides the demand for energy products and resources. Consequently, there would be a great impact within the international market mainly for resources and energy. Apparently, the policy would consequently affect supply side of the market by causing strain in labor. With significant reduction in labor supply to the market and industries, the country’s economy equilibrium would shift to increased pressure on demand for goods and services (ANU 1). Due to the aforementioned forecasted effects, it would remain prudent to abolish the one-child policy. Abolishing the one-child policy would remain imperative in providing adequate supply of labor to the market besides availability of ready market for the produced goods and services. However, the government should control population growth rate to economically sustainable levels through socially accepted policies including education. Such policies would be imperious in ensuring balance involving supply and demand of goods and services to the country’s economy. Moreover, abolishing the one-child policy and adopting more vigilant and socially acceptable population control policies would helps in improving living standards of the country’s economy. It is vital to note that a country’s economic development directly relates to its internationally accepted policies and improved living standards of citizens. Therefore, it would be imperious for the country to protect female population from unhealthy birth control practices towards realization of better living standards (Jian 1). Using narrative evidence Personally, I believe that attainment of sustainable economy do not have to involve policies that compromises social livelihood of individuals within the society. Continuous implementation of one-child policy would violate the international human rights mainly due to increased child deaths and female sufferings. Encouraging economic sustainability through initiation of development programs that would increase employment availabilities and promote health and social support programs remains influential in realization of better population control. Moreover, adoption of internationally acceptable population control measures including health education would eliminate the experienced suicides and deaths of female Chinese population (Park 1). Conclusion One-child policy adopted by China as a population control measure has resulted into international outcry mainly due to observed female and infants deaths. However, the policy has led to realization of significant population reduction. Nonetheless, continuous implementation of the policy would result into an aging population that would strain labor supply and consequently affect demand. Consequently, China should abolish one-child policy in light of the inherent derogatory human life impacts including threat to female population and unhealthy birth practices. It would be imperative for China as a growing nation to remain committed to observing internationally accepted human rights policies by adopting socially acceptable population control policies towards realization of sustainable economy. Work Cited ANU, Ligang Song. The scale of China’s economic impact. EAST ASIA FORUM. February 23, 2010. Web. January 2, 2015. Accessed from http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2010/02/23/the-scale-of-chinas-economic-impact/ British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). China formally eases one-child policy. December 28, 2013. Web. January 2, 2015. Accessed from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-25533339 Jian, Ma . China’s Brutal One-Child Policy. The New York Times. May 21, 2013. Web. January 2, 2015. Accessed from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/opinion/chinas-brutal-one-child-policy.html?_r=0 Park, Madison. China eases one-child policy, ends re-education through labor camps. CNN. December 28, 2013. Web. January 2, 2015. Accessed from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/28/world/asia/china-one-child-policy-official/ Read More