More Evidence Marriage and Family are Good for the Economy

Family, Marriage,

We have written before about research revealing how marriage contributes to household income. Studies from the Heritage Foundation have shown marriage is as effective at raising household income as adding a few years to a person’s education. In other words, being married with a college degree puts a person’s income in the same range as that of someone with, for example, some graduate school education or a Master’s degree. This week there is more emerging evidence that marriage is good for parents and children.

According to a new study by officials from the National Marriage Project, “Growing up with both parents (in an intact family) is strongly associated with more education, work, and income among today’s young men and women. Young men and women from intact families enjoy an annual ‘intact-family premium’ that amounts to $6,500 and $4,700, respectively, over the incomes of their peers from single-parent families.”

If those numbers hold true, that means a young adult who grew up in an intact family with a mother and father present will earn roughly $200,000 – $290,000 more over the course of his or her career than someone who grew up in a single-parent household.

There are plenty of other factors to consider. As other researchers have noted, children with a married mother and father do better in school; have fewer discipline problems and are less likely to get in trouble with the law; and are more likely to go on to college. However, one thing these positive outcomes all have in common is a married mother and father.

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ADF: Court Can’t Change These 3 Truths About Marriage

Marriage

Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom have published a list of three truths the courts cannot change about marriage.

ADF writes,

  • Marriage is creative. The union of man and woman has the inherent potential to create and raise children, and that is what makes marriage a unique relationship. Only male-female relationships can produce children, and having parents committed to each other and their children is best for children. A woman can be a great mom, but she can never be a dad, and a great dad can never be a mom.
  • Marriage is our foundation.  As the Supreme Court has previously stated, marriage is “fundamental to the very existence and survival of the [human] race.” Zablocki v. Redhail, 434 U.S. 374, 384 (1978). The lifelong, faithful union of husband and wife promotes durable families for the common good today and for future generations.
  • Marriage is our future. It “is an institution, in the maintenance of which . . . the public is deeply interested, for it is the foundation of the family and of society, without which there would be neither civilization nor progress,” according to the Supreme Court in Maynard v. Hill, 125 U.S. 190, 211 (1888). Marriage is progressive – it ensures that our civilization will not only continue by producing future generations, but also that those future generations will be best prepared to become good citizens and contribute to a healthy, thriving society.

When courts try to unilaterally redefine marriage, they compromise the benefits of marriage. ADF also lists three things we can all do to support marriage in society.

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Why is the U.S. Supreme Court Jilting States on Marriage?

2 CommentsMarriage, ,

Earlier this week we learned the U.S. Supreme Court will not hear several appeals over lower court rulings that struck state laws defining marriage as the union of one man to one woman.

This was a surprising move by the court. And while it is not the “victory” many on the Left claim it is–there are still other appeals pending, so our justices will not be able to dodge the issue forever–it does raise the question exactly why the U.S. Supreme Court is running away from the marriage debate at the moment.

In order for an appeal to brought up before the U.S. Supreme Court, at least four of the court’s nine justices must vote to hear it. The fact that these appeals concerning marriage will not be heard means that no more than three justices wanted to hear the cases–and it’s possible that the court decided unanimously to ignore the appeals. Depending on who you ask, many people agree there are three or four “conservative” justices on the court: Associate Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Alito and Chief Justice Roberts. Since it only takes four votes to bring an appeal before the court, presumably at least one (maybe more) of these four justices did not want the marriage issue brought up. Why would they do that?

It’s just speculation on my part, but the answer may lie in Associate Justice Scalia’s dissenting opinion from the 2013 United States v. Windsor ruling that struck part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. In his dissent, Justice Scalia wrote, (more…)

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