A Study On The Impact Of Family Capital On Residents’ Fertility Intention To Have Multiple Children

China has already entered the low fertility stage,with the total fertility rate of Chinese women of reproductive age decreasing to 1.3 in 2020,well below the international fertility warning line of 1.5.This overall fertility rate is volatile and is expected to fall.This low fertility rate,combined with rising life expectancy per capita,will hasten China’s transition to an aging society,resulting in a reduction in labor supply,an increase in social security burden,and a slew of other issues.Our government has developed a number of policies aimed at increasing fertility and readiness to have children,ranging from the "double alone two child" policy to the "one alone two child" policy,"the universal two-child" policy,and the "third-child" policy.However,the policy’s impact has fallen short of expectations.China’s natural population growth rate increased slightly following the implementation of the "universal two-child" policy in 2016,but then continued to decline,from 4.93 per thousand in2015 to 6.53 per thousand in 2016,and then to 1.45 per thousand in 2020,according to National Bureau of Statistics data.The gradually relaxed fertility policy has not had the expected effect,most likely because there are other important factors limiting fertility intentions,and scholars both at home and abroad have conducted in-depth studies on residents’ fertility intentions from various perspectives,including the cost of childbirth.In China,the expense of childbirth and child rearing is paid primarily by families,and the quantity of family capital becomes an essential factor influencing citizens’ reproductive intentions.Based on the work of numerous researchers on reproductive intentions,this thesis explores the impact of family capital on residents’ fertility intentions using data from the China General Social Survey.The explanatory variables are "fertility intentions of multiple children" and "fertility intentions of quantitative aspects",as well as "family economic capital","family cultural capital",and "family social capital".To study the effects of the three forms of family capital on residents’ intentions to have many children and quantitative features of conception,respectively,logit models and poisson models were created.Additionally,the estimated model and primary explanatory variables were changed to conduct the robustness tests.The sample is additionally divided into various groups based on factors such as gender,age,geography,urban versus rural areas,and gender disparities in having a single kid.Additionally,the heterogeneity of the intention to have more children is investigated among various groups.The following conclusions are drawn:(1)family economic capital has a significant positive effect on residents’ willingness to have more children and willingness to have more children;(2)family cultural capital has a significant negative effect on residents’ willingness to have more children and willingness to have more children;(3)family social capital has a significant positive effect on residents’ fertility intentions of multiple children and fertility intentions of quantitative aspects;(4)family economic endowment,family cultural endowment and family social endowment have significant differences on the fertility intentions of multiple children and fertility intentions of quantitative aspects by gender,age,region,urban and rural areas,and the first child’s gender.Based on the above analysis,this thesis makes the following recommendations: First,to raise the relative economic capital of families,which in turn promotes the desire to have children,we should lower the cost of raising children in all aspects and offer birthing subsidies.For instance,introducing policies pertaining to infant care or childcare,providing childcare allowance,expanding the coverage of maternity insurance,formulating corresponding humane maternity policies,vigorously developing the inclusive childcare service system,and so on,in order to increase the willingness to give birth by lowering the cost of childbirth.Second,to encourage more people to have children by lowering the opportunity cost of motherhood for those with advanced education.For instance,in order to foster a peaceful and peaceful social environment,we should guide and establish a scientific conception of childbirth,increase the visibility of childbirth policies,and strengthen the employment security of women of childbearing age.We should also eliminate employment discrimination,enhance existing legal protections,and create an environment that is pregnancy-friendly for pregnant workers.Third,by splitting the cost of childcare,we should fully utilize social capital’s informal protective function to improve the inclination to have children.To create a good interactive mechanism of mutual trust and reciprocity,for instance,we should improve social governance and public service mechanisms,increase the transparency of the social governance system and improve social trust,as well as carry out community public life,strengthen residents’ communication and interaction,and build a community network for mutual assistance in child rearing.