Running Head: Economics
Economics
Name
University
Economics
2
PART A
Percentage of Birth occurring outside of marriage, 1990-2009, among adult women
The first top graph shows the percentage of births occurring outside of marriage among adult
women as from 1990-2009 and how it has risen among three groups of women namely: Blacks,
Hispanics and women of White origin. The graph further goes on to show an increase in birth
depending on the mother's education level among the three groups of women as mentioned
above.
Among the Black women who have less than high school level of education, there was an
increase of 4% in child births outside marriage from 1990-2009. Those who had attained high
school or GED level of education experienced an increase of 14% in childbirth outside marriage
for the same period. Black women who had some college or associates degree in education, there
was an increase of 19% in child birth outside marriage whereas those who had a bachelor’s
degree or more experienced an increase of 9% in child births outside marriage.
Among the Hispanics women who have less than high school education, there was an increase of
17% in child births outside marriage from 1990-2009. Those who had attained high school or
GED level of education experienced an increase of 23% in childbirth outside marriage for the
same period. Hispanic women who had some college or associates degree in education, there was
an increase in 22% in child births outside marriage while those who had a bachelor’s degree or
more experienced an increase of 5% in childbirth outside marriage for the same period of time.
Among the White women who have less than a high school level of education, there was an
increase of 22% in child births outside marriage from 1990-2009. Those who had attained high
school or GED level experienced an increase of 29% in childbirth outside marriage for the same
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period. White women who had some college or associates degree in education, there was an
increase of 20% in child births outside marriage while those who had a bachelor’s degree or
more, experienced an increase of 3% in childbirth outside marriage for the same period of time.
The graph shows that the births outside of marriage has risen for all women races since 1990.
The proportion of births occurring outside marriage continues to increase signaling a new pattern
of family formation alongside the tradition pattern where births occur within marriage. The graph
suggests a likely increase in lone parents, cohabiting couples as well as non-marital relationships.
The graph shows a more dramatic variance by education than by race.
Percentage of households in each income group with married parents.
The graph shows that children in upper-income household are more likely to have married
parents that those children of less income household. College educated parents are more likely to
marry one another and stay privileged while parents with less education are less likely to marry.
The graph clearly suggests that unmarried families have a greater risk of economic hardships
than the married parents. The levels of parental education are the major factors of income
generation. Higher levels of parental education are effects of high income. The bottom third
represents children whose parents have less than high school education while the top bottom
represents children of parents with a degree.
PART B
The graph presents a study that tracked children at the ages 12-14 at early 1996. The graph
shows that those children living with their both parents were more likely to have moved up to a
higher income group than single-parent children after 12 years. The graph suggests that children
of married parents are more likely to have a higher income hence are less likely to live in
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poverty. On the other hand, lone parent children are more likely to have a lower income, thus,
more likely to live in poverty. As suggested by the graph, children of married parents are more
likely to finish college, find good jobs or form a stable marriage. Single parent children are more
likely to encounter childhood poverty, become underage teenage parents, act up in class or drop
out of school.
READING QUESTIONS
Goldin 2006
From the graph, the income effect declined as work for women became more accepted,
especially by their husbands. At the same time, the substation effect rose substantially, mainly
because of the rise of part-time work from the 1940s onwards. Also, the other contributing factor
was the lower women’s reservation. There was almost complete diffusion of modern, relatively
cheap electric household technologies. According to Goldin (2006, p. 5, par 4-5), change of
several factors was exogenous for female labor supply. First, the demand for office and other
clerical works greatly increased beginning in the early nineteenth century with the arrival of new
types of information technologies. Furthermore, enormous growth in high school enrollment and
graduation happened before 1970s. Before the marriage, young women entered now nicer,
cleaner, short-term, hence more respectable jobs, although, there was still the intuition of
marriage bars laws that forced single women to leave employment upon marriage.
The notion that a “natural rate” has been reached does not appear to be supported for the females
in their 30s. However, these female appear likely to be committed to the labor force because they
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were in the labor force far longer before they married, invested more in formal and informal
training and established their identities prior to having children (Goldin, 2006, p. 15, par 4)
Folbre 1994
1.
Children have been described as public goods because they have both positive and negative
externalities (Folbre (1994), p 86, 1st paragraph)
2.
Wives tend to bear more of the costs of children than husbands (Folbre, 1994, p 86, 2nd
paragraph). This is because, the increase in costs of children has been associated with trends that
shift the cost to mothers such as new child-custody regulations. In addition, the evolution in the
fraction of families maintained by women alone, and deprived execution of fathers' child-support
errands are major factors ( Folbre, 1994, p 87, 3rd paragraph).
Willis and haaga 1996
According to hortz and his colleagues, if children are assumed to be superior goods, higher
income will lead to lead to lower fertility (Hotz et al., 1997, p. 17, 2nd paragraph). In regards to
this, the fertility behavior of parents is preferred both for the number of children and the quality
dimensions related to the choice of children.
Folbre 1983
1.
During this period, fertility was high, and people wanted children. Families in pre-
demographic transition invested in children so to provide insurance in case of death (Folbre,
1983, p. 264, 1st paragraph)
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2.
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First he points out “a fatal error of omission” where there is a failure to integrate any
concern of changing feminist. Secondly, the changing nature and extend of education made it
different for children to make a pecuniary contribution to family income. Also, the opportunity
cost of women’s time is determined technical factors and the numbers of productive labor that
women sacrifice to childcare. The extension of hours spent working lowers the cost of children
to other family household (Folbre, 1983, p. 268, 2-4th paragraph).
Bianchi (2000)
1.
Figure 1 compare mothers’ time with children in 1998 with comparably collected data for
1965. The figure shows three measures of time with children: first, the time when the main or
primary activity was a childcare activity. Secondly, the time when childcare was mentioned as a
secondary use of time such as cooking dinner and helping a child with homework. Lastly the
time in which a parent reported any activity (childcare or other) “with children” present (Bianchi,
2000, p 404, 6th paragraph ). This figure is surprising because when we compare mothers’
reports of the hours per day they spend caring for children directly (either as a primary activity or
with the addition of secondary activities), or time with children in any activity. Mothers today
are reported spending as much time with their kids as did mothers during the previous years such
as in 1965, if not more. These estimates suggest that mothers may be spending significantly more
time per child despite being employed than during the “family-oriented” 1960s.
2.
Figure 3 helps interpreting figure 1 because it shows over the years, housework hours
declined significantly for working mothers between 1965 and 1995, also housework hours
declined
more
steeply,
however,
for
mothers
not
employed
outside
the
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home(Bianchi(2000),p406, 5th paragraph). The reduction in time spent on household chores is
widespread among the women, and the hours “gained” by both the employed and non-employed
mothers are equally likely to be used for activities involving children hence leading to the
conclusion that mothers may be spending significantly more time per child today than in the past
during 1960s.
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References
Haga, G.J. , and Willis, R. J. (1996). Economic Approaches to Understanding Nonmaritial
Fertility. 22:67-86.
Hotz, J.V., Klerman, A.J., and Willis R.J. (1996). The economics of fertility in developed
countries: A survey. In Rosenzwieg M. and Strark, eds. Handbook of Population and
Familiy Economics. Amsterdam: North-Holland, Forthcoming.
Folbre, N. (1983). Of patriarchy Born: The Political Economy of Fertility Decisions. Feminist
Studies. 9(2): 261-284.
Goldin C. (2006). The quiet revolution that transformed Women’s Employment, Education, and
Family. 96(2): 1-21.
Browning M. (1992). Children and Household Economic Behaviour. Journal of Economic
Literature. 30(3): 1434-1475
Folbre N. (1994). Children as Public Goods: The American Economic Review. A paper and
Proceedings of the Hundred and Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Economic
Association. 84(2): 86-90