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The Daily Signal
How Marriage,
Strong Families Contribute to Economic Growth
Rachel Sheffield
October 26, 2015
Is there a connection between strong families and a thriving economy? A
new study, “Strong Families, Prosperous States,” takes a step toward
answering the question.
“Despite the clear economic gains associated with strong families at
the individual level, economists across the ideological spectrum have
failed to investigate whether strong families increase economic
growth,” co-authors Brad Wilcox, Joseph Price, and Robert Lerman write
in the report from the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute
for Family Studies.
Some of the main findings:
States with the highest share of married-parent
families are better off than states with the lowest share of such
families. They have $1,451 more in per capita GDP, 10.5 percent more
upward mobility for low-income children, a 13.2 percent decrease in
child poverty, and $3,654 more in median family income. (The
researchers controlled for factors such as education, a state’s racial
composition, tax policies, and education spending.)
The proportion of married parents in a state is a
top indicator for economic outcomes. The share of married parents, the
researchers note, “is generally a stronger predictor of economic
mobility, child poverty, and median family income … than are the
educational, racial, and age compositions of the states.”
Violent crime is far lower in states with a greater
share of married-parent families. On average, the rate of violent crime
is 343 crimes per 100,000 population in states with the highest
quintile of married-parent families, compared to an average rate of 563
crimes per 100,000 in states with the lowest quintile of married-parent
families.
But why do strong families contribute to a thriving economy?
First, marriage leads to higher participation in the workforce and
productivity for men.
“Studies reveal that married men work about 400 hours more and make
about $16,000 more per year than their otherwise similar single peers,
and they are less likely to quit a job without lining up a new one,”
the authors write.
Although motherhood is linked with a decrease in work and income for
women, the gains for married men in these areas tend to offset those
decreases.
Marriage provides many other economic benefits, the report says,
including income pooling and economies of scale. Married couples also
accumulate more wealth than those in other household types, have more
assets, and enjoy higher levels of income–and are thus less likely to
be poor.
Also, the study says, children from married-parent households are more
likely to receive human capital to help them thrive in the world. They
have access to greater levels of income and parental attention and are
less likely to be abused or neglected.
Finally, strong families reduce the likelihood that youth will
participate in delinquent behavior, thus contributing to a lower crime
rate.
Wilcox and his colleagues explain that children raised in intact
families, particularly boys, are less likely to act out aggressively
and that young men from single-mother families are roughly two times as
likely to spend time in jail. They note that youth from
single-parent homes also are more likely to be victims of crime.
Communities with higher numbers of single-parent homes have greater
levels of crime than those with larger numbers of two-parent families.
Crime hurts economic prosperity, the authors note, and so stronger
families contribute to protecting communities from that economic drag.
***
Tragically, family breakdown is common in the United States. The rate
of unwed childbearing is high at roughly 40 percent, and about the same
in every state.
Divorce rates are at historically high levels, although divorces have
leveled off somewhat since the 1980s. Fewer than half of America’s
children will be raised by married, biological parents for their entire
childhood.
These trends will be difficult to change overnight, but there is plenty
of work to be done. The authors provide a few recommendations:
Reduce marriage penalties in means-tested welfare
programs.
Reform divorce laws to help couples avoid breakup
when it isn’t necessary.
Strengthen marriage and encourage a reduction in
unwed childbearing with a public service ad campaign focused on “the
success sequence”: education, work, marriage, and parenthood in that
order.
Identify ways to expand career opportunities for
lower-income men and women with apprenticeship programs and other
innovations.
The well-being of the family and the economy go hand-in-hand. America
can thrive only if its most vital institution, the family, is strong.
Read the article with charts at The Daily Signal
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