Overview

In The Two-Parent Privilege, Melissa S. Kearney makes a provocative, data-driven case for marriage by showing how the institution’s decline has led to a host of economic woes. Eschewing the religious and values-based arguments that have long dominated this conversation, Kearney shows how the greatest impacts of marriage are, in fact, economic: when two adults marry, their economic and household lives improve, offering a host of benefits not only for the married adults but for their children. Studies show that these effects are today starker, and more unevenly distributed, than ever before. Based on more than a decade of economic research, including her original work, Kearney shows that a household that includes two married parents — holding steady at the higher end of the socioeconomic scale, increasingly rare among almost everyone else — functions as an economic vehicle that advantages some children over others. As these trends of marriage and class continue, the compounding effects on inequality and opportunity grow increasingly dire. For many, the two-parent home may be an old-fashioned symbol of a vanished way of life. But The Two-Parent Privilege makes it clear that marriage, for all its challenges and faults, may be our best path to a more equitable future. By confronting the critical role that family makeup plays in shaping children’s lives and futures, Kearney offers a critical assessment of what a decline in marriage means for an economy and a society — and what we must do to change course.

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9781800753761

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Reviews

"'Kearney has written an extraordinary and deeply important book ... Highly recommended' - Tyler Cowen, George Mason University and author of Talent 'Kearney has written a courageous, persuasive and profoundly important book. Our children will be better off if her compelling analysis of the benefits of two-parent families is widely heard and acted on' - Lawrence H. Summers, Harvard Kennedy School 'The failure to speak honestly about how the decline in marriage is affecting both children and society is an issue Kearney addresses forthrightly in this fabulous book. Her analysis is trenchant, her common sense shines through, and her writing excels. This book may spark controversy, but in my view, it is right on the mark’ - Isabel Sawhill, senior fellow, Brookings Institution and author of Generation Unbound: Drifting into Sex and Parenthood without Marriage 'Among the many great advances that women have made since 1960, single-parenthood is not one of them. It's brutally challenging for mothers. It’s epidemic among the families who can least afford it. And it deprives children of the economic and emotional resources that foster success in adulthood. This candid book by a superb scholar sets aside judgments and bromides to confront the urgent question of how we can do better by our children' - David Autor, MIT and author of The Work of the Future ‘Melissa Kearney is the economist who dares … If we can keep reminding both high earners and low of the existence of the two-parent privilege, we may see a social revolution’ - Cristina Odone, Spectator 'Kearney argues that one can discuss the benefits of higher education without fear of blaming or shaming those without it. The same should go for the advantages of two-parent families' - Soumaya Keynes, Financial Times 'Anyone who doubts that the two-parent privilege exists should read Ms Kearney’s book' - The Economist ‘Many single parents are short of both money and time, and all too often their children are paying the price. In this superbly researched and engaging book, Melissa Kearney lays out the challenge that the inexorable rise in one-parent families brings about for social mobility and inequality. There are no easy solutions, least of all a return to a time when mothers had little economic independence and no way to escape from bad relationships. But Kearney argues persuasively that there are other options, and that if we care about social inequality, the ""two-parent privilege"" is too important to ignore’ - Matthias Doepke, Professor of Economics, LSE ‘The subject of the book is both complicated and important … Kearney has performed a great service by setting out the facts succinctly and clearly … well written and always interesting’ - William A. Allen, The Society of Professional Economists"

Author Information

Melissa S. Kearney is the Neil Moskowitz Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland, Director of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

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