In 1979, the Chinese government introduced the One-child Policy for the purpose of controlling population growth. Thirty years later, the fertility rate in China has declined to a very low level and one-child families have become the norm. At the same time, the consequences of low fertility rates have emerged. In 2015, the government announced a new policy that encouraged couples to have two children in order to raise the total fertility rate. In this paper, I analyze the economic and legal implications of the Chinese family planning policies. By examining to what extent fertility decisions are affected by government policies, I evaluate the potential effects of the Two-child Policy. The findings suggest that the Two-child Policy might not be effective in increasing the total fertility rate.

This thesis analyses the two-child limit policy in the United Kingdom which is codified in section 10 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012, amended in section 14 of the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016, by utilising Carol Bacchi’s "What’s the Problem Represented to be?" (WPR) approach. The WPR approach draws on Foucauldian discourse theory and investigates the policy's implications by studying the problem presentations within it. The analysis identifies three core problems in the Welfare Reform and Work Bill’s impact assessment: the necessity to address the deficit by restructuring the welfare state, fairness towards working taxpayers versus benefit recipients, and the escalation of tax credit expenditure. It further uncovers five assumptions embedded within the policy, suggesting that UK citizens incorporate the policy into family planning, anticipate future social security needs, and make fertility decisions based on financial considerations, with the policy aimed at improving children's future prospects.Additionally, the study traces the ideological roots shaping welfare reform, highlighting the influence of Conservative Party ideologies from the Thatcher era and subsequent policies that reduced welfare support, contrasting with New Labour's interventionist approach and the media’s role in reinforcing negative welfare perceptions. The analysis uncovers several problem presentations in the policy and concludes that the government and media can craft narratives that shift the responsibility for child poverty from the state to parents, with enduring impacts on social discourse and policy direction, challenging future policy reversals.

Evaluation of China's population policy Abstract This thesis discusses China's population policy and its aim is to evaluate various programs and analyze their effectiveness. The methodological part describes the base of data and indicators by which the influence of population policy can be measured. The literary review is followed by an analytical part that deals with the development of fertility in the context of population policies, postponing marriage and changing reproductive plans, which are crucial for future policy development. The effectiveness of these programs in China is assessed by comparing the effectiveness of policies in Vietnam and Japan, as well as using selected indicators. An integral part of the thesis is an analysis of the consequences of policies and an outline of possible future development. Based on the results of the analysis, China's population policy has been effective as it has achieved its goal of reducing fertility. On the other hand, the one-child policy has caused many negative consequences, which the new universal two-child policy introduced in 2016 aims to reduce. Key words: population policy, one-child policy, universal two-child policy, reproduction plans, effectiveness of programs, negative consequences