China, bless its many souls, has a one-child policy, as you know, which is more accurately described as a one-child-but-sometimes-two-and-even-on-rare-occasions-when-China-is-feeling-magnanimus-three-count-them-three-children policy.
Though many in the West view it as a rights violation, China won’t stop because:
- It’s part of the culture now. It’s as Chinese as whatever the Chinese equivalent of apple pie is. Kinda.
- It appears to work – China claims it’s prevented about 400 million (!!!) babies.
So here’s my point: China could grant its citizens more freedom without easing its overall limit on children by running a cap-and-trade system. Couples could buy and sell permits to make babies. Let’s say I want 5 babies (so I can form a Motown singing group). If I can find 5 couples who plan not to have any babies for now, I can buy their permits. When I have a baby, a permit gets torn up. If those other couples later decide to have babies, they can buy permits from others. But the total number of allowable babies is the same as in the old system. When the demand for babies goes up, permit prices would rise and vice-versa. The system might stop the selective abortion of female fetuses which the one-child policy has spawned (pun!). Has China considered this?
