I am sure the author is using this phrase tongue and cheek, but rarely is there unintended consequences. Statist are generally well aware of the consequences of their action but weigh the political benefit vs the damage.
China, thanks to its one child policy, will be the first country in the history of the planet to grow old before it grows rich.
China’s one-child policy is causing all kinds of trouble. They are raising generations of spoiled young men who will wonder where the women are some day. Women are being kidnapped and forced to be “brides”, because there is such a shortage of females.
One wonders if these angry young men will turn into a formidable army or if they have been so spoiled by their parents, that they will become the Asian version of the modern American oaf who wastes his life playing video games in his parents’ basement.