Home Economics

Book excerpt: Since the 1950s, divorces and out-of-wedlock births in America have risen dramatically. This has significantly affected the economic wellbeing of the country's most vulnerable populations. In Home Economics: The Consequences of Changing Family Structure, Nick Schulz argues that serious consideration of the consequences of changing family structure is sorely missing from conversations about American economic policy and politics. Apprehending a complete picture of this country's economic condition will be impossible if poverty, income inequality, wealth disparities, and unemployment alone are taken into consideration, claims Schulz. This book will trace how family structure has transformed over the last half century, ruminate on the causes of those changes, consider what conclusions can be drawn about the economic consequences of the changes in family, and offer ideas for how to handle the issue in the years to come.