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In this talk, economist Melissa S. Kearney draws on her decades of looking at child well-being, poverty, and inequality in America--which has shaped her understanding of how family structure plays a critical role in all three—and shines a light on an economic fact that many of her colleagues avoid talking about in public, but she feels must be discussed if we hope to rebuild the promise of shared prosperity and stem the tide of widening class divisions in American society. She uses her original analysis of decades of data to show that the share of children growing up in a home with two parents has declined sharply in the past 40 years, driven by a decline in marriage among adults outside the college-educated class. The most highly-resourced adults in America continue to raise their children almost exclusively within the context of marriage, conferring tremendous advantages on these parents and children. But, Kearney also explains why adults who are not in the top education and income brackets are increasingly likely to raise their children outside of a marital union. Their children are much more likely to grow up with only one parent in their home and, consequently, with less income and parental support. This affects not only these children, but also their parents, and the communities they live in. Kearney brings the conversation about the importance of marriage out of the religious sphere and onto the national stage as an economic choice with critical implications for American competitiveness and prosperity.

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