DOCSLIB.ORG

Pursuing the American Dream: Economic Mobility Across Generations

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Pursuing the American Dream: Economic Mobility Across Generations Pursuing the American Dream: Economic Mobility Across Generations THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS ECONOMIC MOBILITY PROJECT JULY 2012 The Pew Charitable Trusts is driven by the power of knowledge to solve today’s most challenging problems. Pew applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public and stimulate civic life. By forging broad, nonpartisan agreement on the facts and drivers of mobility, the Economic Mobility Project fosters policy debate and action on how best to improve economic opportunity and ensure that the American Dream is kept alive for future generations. TEAM MEMBERS Susan K. Urahn, Managing Director, Pew Center on the States Erin Currier, Project Manager, Economic Mobility Project Diana Elliott, Research Manager, Economic Mobility Project Lauren Wechsler, Senior Associate, Economic Mobility Project Denise Wilson, Senior Associate, Economic Mobility Project Daniel Colbert, Administrative Assistant, Economic Mobility Project THE PEW CENTER ON THE STATES The analysis and recommendations included in this report are solely those of The Pew Charitable Trusts and do not necessarily reflect the views of outside reviewers. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Analysis for the report was conducted by Leonard Lopoo, associate professor of Public Administration and International Affairs of Syracuse University, and Thomas DeLeire, director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The Economic Mobility Project thanks all team members, Laura Fahey, Kimberly Furdell, Harry Holzer, Samantha Lasky, Susan Mayer, and Liz Voyles for providing valuable feedback on the report. Design expertise was provided by Willie/Fetchko Graphic Design, Carla Uriona, and Evan Potler. The report benefited from the insights and expertise of two external reviewers, Angela Fertig, an assistant professor in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at the University of Georgia; and Deirdre Bloome, a doctoral candidate in Sociology and Social Policy at Harvard University. Although they have reviewed the report, neither they nor their organizations necessarily endorse its findings or conclusions. This report is intended for educational and informational purposes. For additional information on The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Economic Mobility Project, please visit www.economicmobility.org or email us at [email protected]. ©July 2012 The Pew Charitable Trusts. All Rights Reserved. 901 E Street NW, 10th Floor 2005 Market Street, Suite 1700 Washington, DC 20004 Philadelphia, PA 19103 Table of Contents Introduction and Key Findings .................................... 1 Chart Book ................................................... 4 Family Income .............................................. 4 Family Wealth ............................................. 13 Mobility by Race ........................................... 18 Mobility by Education ....................................... 23 Conclusion ................................................ 27 Appendix .................................................... 28 Endnotes .................................................... 33 iii THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS Introduction and Key Findings The ideal that all Americans have Pursuing the American Dream looks equality of opportunity regardless of their closely at the mobility experiences of economic status at birth is the crux of the Americans on different rungs of the American Dream and a defining element economic ladder, divided into five equal of our national psyche. This study parts or quintiles. The study measures investigates the health and status of that mobility in two ways. Absolute mobility dream by analyzing economic mobility— measures whether a person has more or Americans’ movement up and down less income, earnings, or wealth than the economic ladder—during the past his or her parents did at the same age.3 generation. Pursuing the American Dream: Relative mobility measures a person’s Economic Mobility Across Generations is an rank on the income, earnings, or wealth update to the Economic Mobility Project’s ladder compared to his or her parents’ (EMP) foundational work, Getting Ahead rank at the same age. or Losing Ground: Economic Mobility in America, originally released in 2008.1 Descriptive information on how the distribution of income and wealth This chart book moves the project’s work has changed between the parents’ and forward in two ways. First, the income children’s generations also is included. mobility estimates have been adjusted While information about aggregate for family size to account for shifts in changes across generations does not family demographics across generations.2 capture the unique experience of any Second, the analyses now include one parent-child pair, it does provide mobility estimates of personal earnings important context about how the and family wealth in addition to family economic environment in which people income. Using Panel Study of Income strive to climb the ladder has changed Dynamics (PSID) data through 2009, over the past generation. the study provides the most current estimates of mobility and the first Considering both absolute and relative estimates that overlap with the recession. mobility together and in the context 1 PURSUING THE AMERICAN DREAM: ECONOMIC MOBILITY ACROSS GENERATIONS INTRODUCTION AND KEY FINDINGS of changing distributions is essential 70 percent remain below the middle. to understanding the full picture of Forty percent raised in the top opportunity in America. quintile remain at the top as adults, and 63 percent remain above the Family Income middle. The vast majority of Americans have ■ Only 4 percent of those raised in the higher family incomes than their bottom quintile make it all the way parents did.4 to the top as adults, confirming that the “rags-to-riches” story is more ■ Eighty-four percent of Americans often found in Hollywood than in have higher family incomes than reality. Similarly, just 8 percent of their parents had at the same age, those raised in the top quintile fall and across all levels of the income all the way to the bottom. distribution, this generation is doing better than the one that came before it. Family Wealth Half of Americans surpass their ■ Ninety-three percent of Americans parents in terms of family wealth.5 whose parents were in the bottom fifth of the income ladder and 88 ■ Fifty percent of Americans have percent of those whose parents were greater wealth than their parents did in the middle quintile exceed their at the same age. parents’ family income as adults. ■ Seventy-two percent of Americans whose parents were in the bottom Americans raised at the bottom and fifth of the wealth ladder and 55 top of the family income ladder are percent of those whose parents were likely to remain there as adults, a in the middle quintile exceed their phenomenon known as “stickiness at parents’ family wealth as adults. the ends.” ■ While a majority of Americans There is stickiness at the ends of the exceed their parents’ family incomes, wealth ladder. the extent of that increase is not ■ Sixty-six percent of those raised always enough to move them to a in the bottom of the wealth ladder different rung of the family income remain on the bottom two rungs ladder. themselves, and 66 percent of those ■ Forty-three percent of Americans raised in the top of the wealth ladder raised in the bottom quintile remain remain on the top two rungs. stuck in the bottom as adults, and 2 THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS INTRODUCTION AND KEY FINDINGS Mobility by Race Mobility by Education Blacks have a harder time exceeding A four-year college degree promotes the family income and wealth of their upward mobility from the bottom and parents than do whites. prevents downward mobility from the ■ Sixty-six percent of blacks raised middle and top. in the second quintile surpass their ■ Almost one-half (47 percent) of parents’ family income compared those raised in the bottom quintile with 89 percent of whites. of the family income ladder who do ■ Only 23 percent of blacks raised in not earn a college degree are stuck the middle surpass their parents’ there as adults, compared with family wealth compared with over 10 percent who do earn a college half (56 percent) of whites. degree. Similarly, 45 percent without a college degree are stuck in the Blacks are more likely to be stuck in bottom of the family wealth ladder the bottom and fall from the middle compared with 20 percent with than are whites. a degree. ■ Over half of blacks (53 percent) ■ Having a college degree makes a raised in the bottom of the family person more than three times more income ladder remain stuck in the likely to rise from the bottom of the bottom as adults, compared with family income ladder all the way to only a third (33 percent) of whites. the top, and makes a person more Half of blacks (56 percent) raised than four times more likely to rise in the middle of the family income from the bottom of the family wealth ladder fall to the bottom two rungs ladder to the top. as adults compared with just under a ■ Thirty-nine percent raised in the third of whites (32 percent). middle of the family income ladder ■ Half of blacks (50 percent) raised who do not get a college degree fall in the bottom of the family wealth from the middle, compared with ladder remain stuck in the bottom as less than a quarter (22 percent) of adults, compared with only a third those with a degree. Similarly, 39 (33 percent) of whites. More than percent raised in the middle of the two-thirds of blacks (68 percent) family wealth ladder who do not raised in the middle fall to the earn a degree fall down the wealth bottom two rungs of the ladder as ladder, compared with 19 percent adults compared with just under a with a degree. third of whites (30 percent). 3 PURSUING THE AMERICAN DREAM: ECONOMIC MOBILITY ACROSS GENERATIONS Chart Book Family Income Family income is one of the most common ways economic mobility is measured. Family income includes all taxable income (such as earnings, interest, and dividends) and cash transfers (such as Social Security and welfare) of all family members.6 These estimates are adjusted for inflation and for family size.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • MAKING IT in AMERICA Introduction
    MAKING IT IN AMERICA introduction The American Dream is a cornerstone of American culture. Studies For Our Global Future However, many Americans today feel like it no longer exists. In fact, over half of millennials feel the American Dream is more dead than alive.1 Wealth inequality is a big reason for this. A whopping 79 percent of the county’s wealth is held by just 10 concept percent of Americans and many people feel like even with hard There is a high degree of wealth inequality in work, they can’t get ahead. During the mid-20th century, the the United States today. Looking at the past American Dream was strong for a lot of Americans, wealth was provides insight into the state of the American relatively equitable, and the government instituted a number Dream today. of programs which helped build a strong middle class. At the objectives same time, wide gaps in racial wealth inequality persisted due to policies and programs which deliberately excluded Black Students will be able to: Americans and over the past three decades, wealth inequality • Compare their perceptions of wealth throughout the U.S. has skyrocketed. It is important for students distribution in the U.S. to the actual wealth to be aware of the wealth inequality that exists in our country distribution. today and to analyze this inequality from a historical context. • Interpret historic data on the distribution of wealth in the U.S. and analyze changes from 1962 to 2016. materials • Evaluate the current state of the American Dream using historic documents and Part 1 current statistics.
    [Show full text]
  • How Economic Inequality Shapes Mobility Expectations and Behavior
    How Economic Inequality Shapes Mobility Expectations and Behavior in Disadvantaged Youth Alexander S. Browmana Mesmin Destinb,c,d Melissa S. Kearneye,g Phillip B. Levinef,g a Lynch School of Education, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 b School of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 c Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 d Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 e Department of Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 f Department of Economics, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA 02481 g National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA 02138 Nature Human Behaviour, 2019 © Springer Nature Limited, 2019. This paper is not the copy of record and may not exactly replicate the authoritative document published in Nature Human Behaviour. The final article is available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-018-0523-0 2 Abstract Economic inequality can have a range of negative consequences for those in younger generations, particularly for those from lower-socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. Economists and psychologists, among other social scientists, have addressed this issue, but have proceeded largely in parallel. This Perspective outlines how these disciplines have proposed and provided empirical support for complementary theoretical models. Specifically, both disciplines emphasize that inequality weakens people’s belief in socioeconomic opportunity, thereby reducing the likelihood that low-SES young people will engage in behaviors that would improve their chances of upward mobility (e.g., persisting in school, averting teenage pregnancy). In integrating the methods and techniques of economics and psychology, we offer a cohesive framework for considering this issue.
    [Show full text]
  • What Really Is the American Dream? Author: Alexander Bruno
    What Really is the American Dream? Author: Alexander Bruno Abstract This paper takes a closer look at the Constitution of the United States of America (USA) and its role in shaping the American aspiration which is generally referred to as the ‘American Dream.’ The American Dream, therefore, can be seen as the original plot which is played out by Americans in their determination to thrive. Essentially, this paper reviews key contributions by noted scholars with reference to the American Dream. For the purposes of this research, two definitions of the American Dream are proposed; both of which are traced back to the pre-colonial American spirit. The working definitions are: 1. The American Dream is ‘an indigenous belief in the unbridled freedom and unique heritage of a people’ and 2. The American is ‘the belief in self-actualization of the good fortunes, guaranteed by American liberties, opportunities and freedom.’ Those definitions are examined in line with the scholarly works which were reviewed for this research. Above all, this paper can be seen as a continuation of the discussion on the American Dream. Introduction In search of the unchanging quality in the phenomenon called the American Dream… The way of life refers to the way things are. To have aspirations of grandeur, especially for unknown ideas is to dream. This is what guides the notion of the American Dream, but the question still remains: what really is the American Dream? This research article attempts to answer the question by analyzing the opinions of scholars on the same topic, and harmonizing those discussions into a synthesis that would best describe the American Dream.
    [Show full text]
  • The American Dream
    INTRODUCTION The Making and Persistence of the American Dream John Kenneth White Sandra L. Hanson HE AMERICAN DREAM remains a vibrant concept that Amer- icans comprehend and defi ne in various ways as relevant to their T own life experiences. Th e endurance of this “great epic,” as it was once so famously described (Adams 1941, 405), is remarkable, espe- cially given the depressions, recessions, economic contractions, and battles over civil rights, women’s rights, and gender equality that the United States has witnessed over the years. Th ese economic struggles have been hard and are presently ongoing, starting with the severe eco- nomic downturn that began in December 2007 and resulted in govern- ment bailouts of the U.S. banking and automotive industries and the election of Barack Obama to the presidency, all before the end of a sin- gle calendar year. But other struggles, too, have caused citizens to rede- fi ne the American Dream. For much of our history, African Americans and women were excluded from its promise. It would be left to Martin Luther King and feminist leaders to enlarge the American Dream to include themselves and to encourage their constituencies to have a stake in its success. In 2008, Americans voted in their fi rst African American president. Th is dramatic moment in American history combined with one of the most severe economic downturns since the Great Depression provide the backdrop for this volume on the American Dream. The American Dream throughout History Th e resiliency of the American Dream can be traced to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and its promise that citizens of the new nation 2 ■ John Kenneth White and Sandra L.
    [Show full text]
  • A Brief History of the American Dream the Jeffersonian Dream: a Nation of Independent Producers
    A Brief History of the American Dream The Jeffersonian Dream: A Nation of Independent Producers Edward Hicks, The Cornell Farm, 1848 From Notes on the State of Virginia, 1787, p. 175 Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people, whose breasts he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth. Corruption of morals in the mass of cultivators is a phænomenon of which no age nor nation has furnished an example. It is the mark set on those, who not looking up to heaven, to their own soil and industry, as does the husbandman, for their subsistance, depend for it on the casualties and caprice of customers. Dependance begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue, and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition. This, the natural progress and consequence of the arts, has sometimes perhaps been retarded by accidental circumstances: but, generally speaking, the proportion which the aggregate of the other classes of citizens bears in any state to that of its husbandmen, is the proportion of its unfound to its healthy parts, and is a good-enough barometer whereby to measure its degree of corruption. While we have land to labour then, let us never wish to see our citizens occupied at a work-bench, or twirling a distaff. Carpenters, masons, smiths, are wanting in husbandry: but, for the general operations of manufacture, let our work-shops remain in Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • Income Mobility: Concepts and Measures
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by DigitalCommons@ILR Cornell University ILR School DigitalCommons@ILR Articles and Chapters ILR Collection 2000 Income Mobility: Concepts and Measures Gary S. Fields Cornell University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/articles Part of the Income Distribution Commons, Labor Economics Commons, and the Labor Relations Commons Thank you for downloading an article from DigitalCommons@ILR. Support this valuable resource today! This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the ILR Collection at DigitalCommons@ILR. It has been accepted for inclusion in Articles and Chapters by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@ILR. For more information, please contact [email protected]. If you have a disability and are having trouble accessing information on this website or need materials in an alternate format, contact [email protected] for assistance. Income Mobility: Concepts and Measures Abstract People’s economic positions may change for a variety of reasons. The economy in which they participate may improve or deteriorate because of macroeconomic growth or contraction, employer-specific events and circumstances, business expansions and contractions, and ups and downs in local communities. Individuals may experience major life events with important economic consequences, among them completion of schooling, promotions and other movements up the career ladder, marriage and divorce, poor health, and retirement. Economic mobility studies are concerned with quantifying the movement of given recipient units through the distribution of economic well-being over time, establishing how dependent ones current economic position is on one’s past position, and relating people’s mobility experiences to the various influences that have been mentioned.
    [Show full text]
  • Economic Mobility in the United States Daniel P
    Economic Mobility in the United States Daniel P. McMurrer, Isabel V. Sawhill Companion Piece to Number 3 in Series, "Opportunity in America" Document date: October 01, 1996 The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not Released online: October 01, 1996 necessarily reflect those of the Urban Institute, its board, its sponsors, or other authors in the series. The size of available economic rewards and the extent to which those awards are open to all individuals in a society are two critical factors in determining the extent to which a society's economic and social structure is believed to be fair and just by those who participate in it. And over the long term, these fundamental economic elements are likely to have a significant effect on the prevailing public mood within a society. The impact of these factors is even greater in a nation such as the United States, in which the national ideology is deeply rooted in the promise of equal opportunity for all. It is well known that the rewards for success in the United States are great and that they seem to be growing larger every year. Numerous studies have reported that the income gap between the rich and poor in the United States has grown in recent decades. The ratio of mean income for the highest 20 percent of family incomes to the lowest 20 percent has increased from slightly over 7.0 in 1968 to slightly over 11.0 in 1994. 1 Inequality is lower if it is measured by consumption, rather than by income, although some studies have found that consumption inequality is growing at a similar rate to income inequality.
    [Show full text]
  • How the American Dream Has Changed Over Time Gale Student Resources in Context, 2016
    How the American Dream Has Changed Over Time Gale Student Resources in Context, 2016 The beginnings of the idea of the American Dream can be traced to the Founding Fathers, who declared their independence from England because of their belief in unalienable rights. Those men believed people inherently possessed the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They created a country where people could break free from class restrictions and pursue the life they chose despite the circumstances of their birth. In time, writers dubbed this idea the American Dream, but people’s definition of the American Dream has changed greatly over time. Origins The term American Dream is often traced back to James Truslow Adams, a historian and author. In 1931, as Americans suffered through the Great Depression, Adams wrote a book called The Epic of America in which he spoke of “a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement … regardless of fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” In the beginning, the American Dream simply promised a country in which people had the chance to work their way up through their own labor and ingenuity. Immigrants fled the entrenched class restrictions of their homelands for the United States in the hope of obtaining land and gaining religious and other freedoms. Revolutionaries fled England in search of freedom. This promise of a better life attracted people from all over the world to the United States. They came to America ready to work hard.
    [Show full text]
  • Education Policy and Intergenerational Income Mobility: Evidence from the Finnish Comprehensive School Reform
    IZA DP No. 2204 Education Policy and Intergenerational Income Mobility: Evidence from the Finnish Comprehensive School Reform Tuomas Pekkarinen Roope Uusitalo Sari Pekkala DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES DISCUSSION PAPER July 2006 Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit Institute for the Study of Labor Education Policy and Intergenerational Income Mobility: Evidence from the Finnish Comprehensive School Reform Tuomas Pekkarinen Uppsala University and IZA Bonn Roope Uusitalo Labour Institute for Economic Research, Helsinki Sari Pekkala Government Institute for Economic Research, Helsinki Discussion Paper No. 2204 July 2006 IZA P.O. Box 7240 53072 Bonn Germany Phone: +49-228-3894-0 Fax: +49-228-3894-180 Email: [email protected] Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of the institute. Research disseminated by IZA may include views on policy, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit company supported by Deutsche Post World Net. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its research networks, research support, and visitors and doctoral programs. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character.
    [Show full text]
  • Is Neoliberalism Consistent with Individual Liberty? Friedman, Hayek and Rand on Education Employment and Equality
    International Journal of Teaching and Education Vol. IV, No. 4 / 2016 DOI: 10.20472/TE.2016.4.4.003 IS NEOLIBERALISM CONSISTENT WITH INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY? FRIEDMAN, HAYEK AND RAND ON EDUCATION EMPLOYMENT AND EQUALITY IRIT KEYNAN Abstract: In their writings, Milton Friedman, Friedrich August von Hayek and Ayn Rand have been instrumental in shaping and influencing neoliberalism through their academic and literary abilities. Their opinions on education, employment and inequality have stirred up considerable controversy and have been the focus of many debates. This paper adds to the debate by suggesting that there is an internal inconsistency in the views of neoliberalism as reflected by Friedman, Hayek and Rand. The paper contends that whereas their neoliberal theories promote liberty, the manner in which they conceptualize this term promotes policies that would actually deny the individual freedom of the majority while securing liberty and financial success for the privileged few. The paper focuses on the consequences of neoliberalism on education, and also discusses how it affects employment, inequality and democracy. Keywords: Neoliberalism; liberty; free market; equality; democracy; social justice; education; equal opportunities; Conservativism JEL Classification: B20, B31, P16 Authors: IRIT KEYNAN, College for Academic Studies, Israel, Email: [email protected] Citation: IRIT KEYNAN (2016). Is neoliberalism consistent with individual liberty? Friedman, Hayek and Rand on education employment and equality. International Journal of Teaching and Education, Vol. IV(4), pp. 30-47., 10.20472/TE.2016.4.4.003 Copyright © 2016, IRIT KEYNAN, [email protected] 30 International Journal of Teaching and Education Vol. IV, No. 4 / 2016 I. Introduction Neoliberalism gradually emerged as a significant ideology during the twentieth century, in response to the liberal crisis of the 1930s.
    [Show full text]
  • Political Order in Changing Societies
    Political Order in Changing Societies by Samuel P. Huntington New Haven and London, Yale University Press Copyright © 1968 by Yale University. Seventh printing, 1973. Designed by John O. C. McCrillis, set in Baskerville type, and printed in the United States of America by The Colonial Press Inc., Clinton, Mass. For Nancy, All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form Timothy, and Nicholas (except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Library of Congress catalog card number: 68-27756 ISBN: 0-300-00584-9 (cloth), 0-300-01171-'7 (paper) Published in Great Britain, Europe, and Africa by Yale University Press, Ltd., London. Distributed in Latin America by Kaiman anti Polon, Inc., New York City; in Australasia and Southeast Asia by John Wiley & Sons Australasia Pty. Ltd., Sidney; in India by UBS Publishers' Distributors Pvt., Ltd., Delhi; in Japan by John Weatherhill, Inc., Tokyo. I·-~· I I. Political Order and Political Decay THE POLITICAL GAP The most important political distinction among countries con­ i cerns not their form of government but their degree of govern­ ment. The differences between democracy and dictatorship are less i than the differences between those countries whose politics em­ , bodies consensus, community, legitimacy, organization, effective­ ness, stability, and those countries whose politics is deficient in these qualities. Communist totalitarian states and Western liberal .states both belong generally in the category of effective rather than debile political systems. The United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union have different forms of government, but in all three systems the government governs.
    [Show full text]
  • Family Stability and the American Dream
    Statement before the Joint Economic Committee On “Improving Family Stability for the Well-Being of American Children” Family Stability and the American Dream W. Bradford Wilcox Sociology Professor & Director of the National Marriage Project, University of Virginia Visiting Scholar, American Enterprise Institute Senior Fellow, Institute for Family Studies February 25, 2020 The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) educational organization and does not take institutional positions on any issues. The views expressed in this testimony are those of the author. Chairman Lee, Vice Chair Beyer, and distinguished members of the Joint Economic Committee, thank you for convening this hearing on improving family stability. I am a sociologist at the University of Virginia, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, and a senior fellow of the Institute for Family Studies. This testimony reflects my own views and not those of any organization with which I am affiliated. Thank you for having me here today. If your only sense of the state of our unions was drawn from pop culture and the prestige press, you could be forgiven for thinking that the state of marriage and family life in America is dire. From the Oscar-winning movie Marriage Story, which leaves the impression that divorce remains an endemic feature of married life, to the title of the new Atlantic cover story, “The Nuclear Family Was a Mistake,” much of today’s culture paints a dark portrait of the state of our unions.1 The Good and Bad News About Family in America But, in truth, the data tell a sunnier story than you might get from just following pop culture and the prestige press.
    [Show full text]