May 10, 2010
Ross Douthat gave us a quick morality discussion about the growing numbers of children born out of wedlock. It might have helped to add some of the economic dimension to this story, both positive and negative. The positive is that economic opportunities for women have increased enormously over the last four decades. This means that many women who might have felt trapped in a bad or abusive marriage years ago now feel that they can survive on their own.
The negative side is that wages for most workers have stagnated for the last three decades as the bulk of the gains from productivity growth have gone to the most highly educated workers. Lower and insecure income places more stress on families and undoubtedly has been a factor in family breakups in many cases.
Okay, now we can go back to Douthat’s morality story.
Comments