Evidence continues to mount that misguided public policy has played a key role in reducing American birthrates from their robust levels of the Baby Boom era. John D. Mueller makes the case in Redeeming Economics (2010) that Roe v. Wade triggered a dramatic drop in the Total Fertility Rate. Likewise, a study by University of […]
Read MoreHow Same-Sex Marriage Suffocates Freedom Those advocating the radical social innovation, which they label “same-sex or gay marriage,” typically claim that they are fighting for freedom, championing a basic liberty. “Freedom to Marry” is indeed the name of a national organization devoted to the advocacy of same-sex marriage. Established in 2003 by civil-rights advocate Evan […]
Read MoreShare When this journal’s editor asked Rep. Paul Ryan if his “Roadmap to Prosperity” included a provision to help reverse family breakdown, the chairman of the House Budget Committee conceded that his budget blueprint helps the family only indirectly. By presenting a plan focused on rebuilding the economy, he argued, the family would be able […]
Read MoreThe Book of Ecclesiastes observes that “of the making of books there is no end.” Likewise, of the research quantifying the negative outcomes of bearing children out of wedlock there is no end. Delivering some of the most recent findings, a study by a team of sociologists led by Kristi Williams of Ohio State uncovers […]
Read MoreDo young women shortchange themselves when they settle for premarital cohabitation rather than marriage plain and simple? A study by Arif Mamun of Mathematic Policy Research suggests that women literally do shortchange themselves, finding that old-fashioned matrimony, even in a day of increased prevalence of cohabitation, still generates a sizeable and robust “wage premium” for […]
Read MoreGiven the dramatic rise in the prevalence of premarital cohabitation, it comes as no surprise that an increasing percentage of cohabiting couples in the United States (about 40 percent) are also cohabiting parents. But just as “shacking up” diminishes the prospects of marital success, having a baby while cohabiting exerts a toll on the child’s future […]
Read MoreThe rising cost of a college education, coupled with the federal government’s eagerness to expand levels of student loans allegedly to make higher education more affordable, means that the average senior graduates with not only a degree but also a debt note of $20,000. These numbers get a lot of press, but almost no attention […]
Read MoreOne would never get the impression from watching Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, but the 2010 report to Congress containing the findings of the Fourth National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (NIS-4) confirm that married parents overwhelmingly represent the safest environment for America’s children, a haven where little ones are least likely to encounter […]
Read MoreWhen the U.S. Commission on Population Growth and the American Future—a project of President Richard Nixon and John D. Rockefeller III to tap the bright minds of their generation on a pressing issue—released its report in 1975, its cover letter stated “we have concluded that, in the long run, no substantial benefits will result from […]
Read MoreThe research continues to demonstrate that dual-income married couples, especially those who are high-earners, contribute substantially to rising levels of income inequality. Even as the labor-force participation rate of married women has declined since the mid-1990s, the earnings gap separating men and women has narrowed while the income gap separating rich households from all others […]
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