Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
7 Figures: Family Structure and Economic Success
7 Figures: Family Structure and Economic Success
Jun 19, 2025 8:44 PM

Family structure is one of the most significant, though oft-overlooked, factors that affect the economic fortunes of Americans. A new study from AEI titled “For Richer or Poorer” documents the relationships between family patterns and economic well-being in America and shows how radically it can affect e.

Here are seven figures you should know from the study:

1. The growth in median e of families with children would be 44 percent higher if the United States enjoyed 1980 levels of married parenthood today.

2. At least 32 percent of the growth in e inequality since 1979 among families with children and 37 percent of the decline in men’s employment rates during that time can be linked to the decreasing number of Americans who form and maintain stable, married families.

3. Young men and women from intact families enjoy an annual “intact-family premium” that amounts to $6,500 and $4,700, respectively, over the es of their peers from single-parent families.

4. Men enjoy a marriage premium of at least $15,900 per year in their individual pared to their single peers.

5. Black men enjoy a marriage premium of at least $12,500 in their individual pared to their single peers.

6. Men with a high-school degree or less enjoy a marriage premium of at least pared to their single peers.

7. Men and women who are currently married and were raised in an intact family enjoy an annual “family premium” in their household e that exceeds that of their unmarried peers who were raised in nonintact families by at least $42,000.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
Report: Pope’s New Economics Encyclical Leaked
According to the Catholic News Agency, an Italian newspaper claims to have acquired some parts of the ing Caritas in Veritate encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI. Some of the quotes published by Corriere della Sera are claimed to be from the encyclical and align with the predictions that the Pope will be advocating for morality to be the basis of solving our economic crisis. Here is a quote: Without truth, without trust and love for what is truthful, there is...
Acton Commentary: The paradox of liberty
Liberty is something we have valued for years in the United States, and the recent events that have occurred in Iran and Honduras demonstrate there are many people throughout the world who wish they were blessed to live in a country that protects and values liberty. As we get ready to celebrate the Fourth of July, Kevin Schmiesing, research fellow at the Acton Institute, writes a very mentary on liberty. Schmiesing explains the delicacy of freedom and how it can...
Praise for Acton University
Acton University has been over for almost two weeks now. A testimony to what a great experience it is can be found on a blog, A Voice in the Wilderness, by R.J. Moeller. Moeller was a student at Acton University this year and provides great insight to the experience he had. If you are curious about Acton University or even Acton Institute please read his blog post. He gives a great description about both that is very well written. ...
The Ultimate Green Job
Speaking of “green” jobs, here’s the ultimate green job: Maybe we’d all be better off if our federal lawmakers took their own jobs this seriously. ...
U.S. Doctoral Degree Prestige in Science, Engineering, Economics
A recent NBER working paper, “Internationalization of U.S. Doctorate Education,” takes a look at trends in doctoral degrees awarded by American institutions in the physical sciences, engineering, and economics. From the abstract, “The representation of a large number of students born outside the United States among the ranks of doctorate recipients from U.S. universities is one of the most significant transformations in U.S. graduate education and the international market for highly-trained workers in science and engineering in the last quarter...
Rev. Sirico on Faith-Based Budgeting
Over at World Magazine, Lee Wishing cites a speech by Rev. Robert A. Sirico, president and co-founder of the Acton Institute, on the subject of putting our faith in God and our own abilities instead of the government to manage economies.He quotes Rev. Sirico: “Many thinkers throughout the ages have noted that we face a choice between holding a robust faith in God or putting faith in man and institutions such as the state.” In such tough economic times, we...
Time to go, Gov. Sanford
A reader makes a request: My purpose for writing is simply to request the Acton Institute make a public statement on its website to repudiate Mr. Sanford’s actions, in large measure because he was prominently featured in Volume 18, Number 3 of Religion & Liberty journal. Of course your organization is not expected to guarantee moral behavior of its featured contributors simply because none of us knows what is really in the hearts and minds of our neighbor. Governor Sanford...
Preview: Pope Benedict XVI on the Market Economy and Ethics
Pope Benedict XVI’s much anticipated economics encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, is scheduled to be released early next week, according reports. For a good sense of this pope’s thinking on economics, we offer an article the then-Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger presented in 1985 at a symposium in Rome. The Acton Institute published it under the title “Market Economy and Ethics.” As indicated by the following quote, the pope believed in integrating morals into economics in order to have sound and successful economic...
International Aid Closes, Effective Immediately
In a blow to international relief work, the Spring Lake-based International Aid has announced that it is ceasing operation, effective immediately. CEO Dr. Gordon Loux cited a “perfect storm” of fiscal hardship: “We have tried to turn it around and we’ve sent out a number of appeals,” he said. “But because of the West Michigan economy and because of donor fatigue of most organizations trying to raise funds, we’ve got the perfect storm.” In May, longtime CEO and president Myles...
Maybe I don’t get out enough
Last week I took Friday afternoon off and did the yard work. I’d been listening to radio broadcasts about the vote in Congress on HR 2454 – what some of us call the “cap and tax” climate bill. You know, the one none of the members had read before the vote? Yes, I know, there’s more than one bill that they haven’t read prior to voting. Yard work is good for my psyche. In two hours I can make a...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved