Melissa Kearney on Family Structure and Reducing Poverty

Single-parent households are more common in the U.S. than in any other country. Can we afford to ignore this reality when discussing issues of poverty and economic mobility?

This week, Naomi and Ian are joined by Melissa Kearney, Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland and author of the new book “The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind.” Melissa makes a data-driven case for why the decline of marriage is a major driving factor of unequal outcomes for kids, particularly since children in two-parent households are more likely to achieve higher levels of education.

She argues that while there are legitimate concerns about marriage in certain situations, the reluctance to acknowledge the importance of family structure by some scholars is counterproductive. Far from avoiding the subject, we should be collecting more data on family structure, along with race, income, and other highly studied factors, in order to more fully understand how to improve children’s outcomes. Even further, Melissa states we must re-establish the social norm of marriage, even as we seek out evidence-based policies that encourage two-parent households.

Resources

• The Two-Parent Privilege | Melissa Kearney

• A Driver of Inequality That Not Enough People Are Talking About | Melissa Kearney

• No Culture Wars, Please, We’re Academics | Naomi Schaefer Riley

• The Privilege Hiding in Plain Sight | Ian Rowe

Show Notes

• 0:00:38 | what inspired you to write this book, as an economist?

• 0:06:25 | why do you think results showing the importance of two-parent families often get buried?

• 0:16:10 | how do we elevate family structure as a discussion point when addressing child outcomes?

• 0:20:02 | what proposals do you have for encouraging two-parent families? How skeptical are you of the solutions that have already been put forward?

• 0:25:35 | is adoption a viable pathway to help build stable families?

• 0:27:46 | can public dollars drive solutions for an issue that is deeply rooted in the culture?

• 0:32:26 | how can your book be a catalyst for creating more unity on this issue?