Issues and Implications of Policy Responses Taken by Metropolitan Municipalities to Low Fertility

Abstract

It is true enough that of late the importance of local-level policy responses to low fertility has gained increasing recognition, but the issues tied to them have been left under-analyzed. This brief discusses the issues that arise from the current policy responses taken at the metropolitan municipal level to low fertility and draws implications for policy improvement. Our analysis of aggregate data on metropolitan municipalities suggests that there were differences in longitudinal changes between fertility variables. The number of national and public daycare centers, though having increased overall, has become more varied even across lower-tier localities in the same metropolitan municipality. Moreover, the childbirth support allowance programs as administered currently at the local level are likely to add to policy inefficiencies and fiscal burden with their potential for increasing inter-local competition for attracting population inflows. These issues call for producing data on the benefits received from the policy programs as they are administered at the metropolitan municipal level, improving the eligibility for support in public childcare as a way to increase the use of daycare centers, considering making use of the Fund in Response to Local Population Extinction, and allocating childbirth support funds on a sliding scale.