National Marriage Week – We Have Solutions!

This week across America leaders are celebrating marriage – but why?  Because marriage as a desirable institution is waning.  I published on this in 2002, and again here for another symposium, but the facts today are bearing out that scholarship from 17 years ago, as revealed here courtesy of Eric Metaxas at Breakpoint:

Marriage rates: In 1970, eighty percent of all adults were married; today it's only 52 percent. In 1960, the median age for a first marriage was 20 for women and 23 for men. Today it's 27 for women and 29 for men.

Millennials: A full 25 percent of Millennials are likely to forego marriage altogether. One report says that a record share of Millennials will remain unmarried through age 40.

That Christians are concerned about the institution of marriage is nothing new. But when leading cultural gatekeepers catch on, it's eye-opening. Sam Sturgeon, president of Demographic Intelligence, says bluntly that the United States has been experiencing a "cultural retreat from marriage."

Sturgeon cites two factors: a stumbling economy that has hit men—particularly blue-collar men—hard, making them less likely to be seen as marriage material. A second is the growing willingness of couples to cohabitate--and bring children into the world without benefit of a life-long marriage commitment [where] the effects on such children can be devastating. Children from divorced or never-married homes are more likely to die in infancy, more likely to get divorced themselves or become unwed parents later in life, more likely to live in poverty, more likely to fail in school, less likely to graduate from college and get a good job, less likely to be in good physical health, more likely to abuse drugs as teens and adults, have lower life expectancies, have higher rates of mental illness, be at greater risk of suicide and child abuse—and on and on.

So while National Marriage Week is an annual campaign February 7-14 in more than 20 countries working to strengthen marriages, cut the divorce rate, and foster a culture that supports strong marriages, we have new scholarship that offers solutions.

With economic analyst Kathleen Akers, we have recently published Solving Millennial Marriage Evolution, 48 U. Balt. L. Rev. 1 (2018), which details and explains the marriage problem in a millennial context.  But we also offer some real solutions.

Because incentives are the basis for effective policy, and micro-level decisions affect national and world powers, we present the economic perspective that socially beneficial family policy should provide incentives for consistent and supportive behavior between individuals. By examining this millennial marriage evolution and exploring the likely future effects on America of shifting marital decisions, we suggest three key solutions.

One remedy we consider is a marriage subsidy (see it spelled out at page 420 of the article). 

Secondly, we discuss a method of amending public benefits to incentivize marriage (see pages 420-21). 

Thirdly, we suggest affirmative tax credits to support such incentives (at page 422).  Read them all here. 

We advance legal and economic incentives toward increasing marriage stability, parenting toward human capital, and fostering family strength, all three of which can effectively work to nurture a positive culture of marriage among millennial Americans.

Marriage is still a socially desirable institution which brings economic stability, but also great joy, to millions across nations and cultures while also restoring families.  Celebrate it with us this week, and see the real solutions to advancing marriage.