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The Long Reach of China’s Demographic Destiny

Part of why China needs to export so much:

Because all parents want the best for their offspring, children’s consumption naturally supports a massive industrial value chain. Embodying economic hope for the future, children boost consumer confidence as well as many forms of investment. But when they come to account for a smaller share of the population, insufficient consumption, labor shortages, and many other problems result. The data show that the proportion of children aged 0-14 is positively correlated with household consumption, whereas the opposite is true for the labor force aged 15-64.