Research On Public Services,Social Trust And Residents’ Fertility Willingness

With the continuous improvement of social and economic development level and the increase of labor demand,China’s demographic dividend gradually disappeared,while the overall social fertility intention and fertility rate continued to decline,which led to the serious imbalance of population structure.In response to the challenge,the Chinese government introduced a three-child policy and stressed the need to optimize supporting public services to reduce the cost of childbirth.In this context,it is particularly important to explore the impact of public services on residents’ fertility intention.At present,the academic circle has carried out a certain degree of research on the influence of public service at the social level,especially the single type of public service,on fertility intention.However,the academic community has not reached a unified conclusion on the synergistic effect of the current overall public service supply system on the fertility intention of residents,which needs to be further verified.In addition,there are few in-depth studies on the specific impact mechanism of public services on residents’ fertility intention.Studies have shown that public services have an impact on people’s social trust,and the stronger the social trust,the stronger the fertility intention of residents.Therefore,it is necessary to explore the mechanism of social trust in public service affecting residents’ fertility intention.At the same time,different individuals have different resource endowments,bear different reproductive costs and get different utility,and the impact of public services on reproductive intention will also be different.Therefore,it is very necessary to explore the heterogeneous impact of public services on reproductive intention,so as to provide targeted suggestions for the implementation of supporting policies.Based on this,this paper analyzes the cost-utility theory and social capital theory,and applies the Panel data of China Family Panel Studies(CFPS)in 2014 and 2018 as well as the relevant data of the province where residents live.The effect and mechanism of basic public services on residents’ fertility intention were studied in depth.This paper firstly defines the concepts of public service,fertility intention and social trust from the theoretical level,and analyzes the impact of public service on residents’ fertility intention and the role of social trust in it in detail,and puts forward the corresponding research hypothesis.Secondly,by selecting relevant data,measuring variables and building an econometric model,this paper conducted empirical test and detailed analysis on how public service supply affects residents’ fertility intention,and empirically analyzed the heterogeneity of public service effect under different circumstances and the mediating role of social trust in the influence path of public service on residents’ fertility intention.According to the empirical research results,the following conclusions are drawn: First,basic public services have a significant positive impact on residents’ fertility intention.That is to say,with the improvement of basic public services,the fertility intention of residents becomes stronger.Second,public services will enhance residents’ willingness to have children by enhancing their social trust.Thirdly,there is significant heterogeneity in the effect of public services on the fertility intention of different population groups.Specifically,public services have a significant positive impact on residents with low education,families with housing property rights and lower housing prices in their local areas,but have no significant impact on residents with high education,no housing property rights and high housing prices.Based on the research conclusions of this paper,the following policy suggestions are put forward: First,the construction of public service system should be strengthened,the coverage and universality of basic public services should be improved,and relevant economic and livelihood policies should be improved from education,medical care,employment,social security,environment,infrastructure and other aspects,so as to improve the quality and level of basic public services.Secondly,we should attach importance to residents’ social trust,improve residents’ sense of personal security,strengthen residents’ social trust by improving the level of basic public service supply,improve residents’ expectation of achieving expected fertility benefits in the future,and thus improve their fertility intention.Finally,in order to meet the diverse needs of residents,policy makers should formulate diversified public service policies and provide diversified basic public services to meet the needs of different groups and improve the pertinacity of public services.