Penna Dexter

Reuters reports that the Chinese government, which — not-so-long ago — forced a one-child-per family policy on its population, is considering a monthly subsidy to encourage families to have second and third children.

Enforcement of the one-child policy was brutal. It included forced abortion and sterilization. A preference for boys led to the practice of sex selective abortion and even abandonment of baby girls. Now China’s population is dangerously skewed in favor of men.

The policy was meant to keep the population within the bounds of what the country’s developing economy could support. According to The Wall Street Journal, “the effect has been nearer the opposite.“ Party leaders finally relaxed the policy to allow families to have two, and now three children. But it’s too late. China’s aging population will soon begin shrinking — hence the proposed subsidy for additional children. Other countries have tried such subsidies. They never work.

Economics and politics writer Joe Tauke’s article describing “China’s Great Leap Backward” appeared in The Rod Martin Report. Mr. Tauke says, “What was, for many previous decades, China’s ultimate advantage — its never-ending supply of working-age laborers — peaked at almost exactly one billion people in 2010, according to the Chinese census.” By 2020, that “working-age cohort had shrunk” by more than 30 million. By the end of the century, China is projected to have lost one quarter to one third of its population.

With fewer workers, China’s domestic labor costs are rising — higher, according to Joe Tauke, than in its Asian neighbors and in Latin America.

The draconian one-child-per-family policy may no longer reign in China. But some of its effects are baked in. The fertility rate has dropped well below replacement level and there are tens of millions of “extra” men who will never start families. According to Mr. Tauke, “women in China have indicated lower interest in having children than ever before.”

Trying to bribe them to have babies won’t fix China’s colossal mistake.