Question: China's CBR and CDR values in Table 12.2 are more typical of a high-income country than for low-income economies as a group.

a Find data on what has happened to China's fertility rate since, say, 1970. (A good place to look is at www.undp.org where you can find data from the UN Human Development Report. Look under Human Development Data, and then "Data and factsheets by country.") How does China's fertility rate compare to the average among low-income economies shown in Table 12.3?

b What might explain any differences between China's CBR and fertility rate relative to the average for low-income economies shown in Table 12.3? If you don't know about China's "one-child policy," try reading something about it and summarize the policy here. There are lots of good sites on the internet. Check Wikipedia, too.

c How does China's one-child policy fit into the "opportunity cost" explanation as to why families in poor (or rich) economies choose how many children to have? Does the one-child policy affect the opportunity costs of bearing children in China? Explain.