RIEB Discussion Paper Series No.2024-19

Title

Preference for Childbirth Support Measures: Results of a Stated-choice Experiment in Japan

Abstract

The population decline associated with Japan's declining birth rate will have many effects on the Japanese economy and society. Currently, the Japanese government plans to implement a series of childbirth support measures to increase the birth rate. In this study, we conduct a stated-choice experiment using an online questionnaire survey to elicit Japanese women's preferences for childbirth support measures such as childbirth lump-sum payment, child medical expenses subsidy, common supermarket discount card issued after childbirth, childcare fee exemption, preferential housing treatment, children's education expense subsidy, and childcare leave periods for couples. Most of these measures were found to significantly affect respondents' preferences in the full-sample estimation. Meanwhile, individuals' heterogeneities in preferences for childbirth support measures were also observed using different subsamples based on respondents' age, number of children, overall education level, employment status, and annual household income.

Keywords

Childbirth support measures; Preference; Stated-choice experiment; Conditional Logit; Japan

Inquiries

Junyi SHEN
Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University, JAPAN
2-1, Rokkodai, Nada,
Kobe, 657-8501, Japan
Phone: +81-78-803-7036
FAX: +81-78-803-7059
and
School of Economics, Shanghai University

Ken-Ichi SHIMOMURA
College of Asia Pacific Studies, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University
and
Research Institute for Economics and Business Administration, Kobe University