Expert: Walter Hintz - 10/6/2006

Question
Sir can you help me figure this out?

Subject is since the 1970s, the Chinese government has promoted a policy of families having one child per family. What are the reasons why the Chinese, who traditionally valued children and family, undertook such a harsh policy. Would this same policy work here in America? What measures would we need to make such a policy work?  

Answer
The purpose of this policy is population control. Limiting families to a single will ,of course, reduce the population. China has been undergoing a population explosion.
Limiting families to a single child would reduce the population anywhere it is done.
Would it work here in America?  Probably not because it is an intrusion of individual rights and would be challenged in courts as unconstitutional.  To make it work would require some kind of a monetary penalty upon those with more than one child.  One proposal that I have seen is to give tax deductions to the first couple children and then taking them back with more that two