Illegitimacy and Public Policy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4121252 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Daniel R Vining (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1983 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 105 |
| Publication date | 1983-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Population and Development Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0098-7921 • E-ISSN: 1728-4457 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/1972898 |
| OpenAlex | W2314355131 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 1 |
The possibility of a link between and illegitimacy is one of the most interesting and, at the same time, one of the most neglected questions in applied demography. Recently, however, several prominent economists have asserted the existence of such a link. Obviously, if such a link does exist, the policy to reduce illegitimacy and its attendant ills is close to hand. My purpose here is to show that, contrary to economists' claims, we are no closer to establishing a strong relationship between and illegitimacy-or the lack thereof-than we were a decade ago when the first of the small number of scholarly articles on this subject appeared. This most intractable of applied demography's problems remains undented. The most publicized of such claims is found in Gary S. Becker's A Treatise on the Family (1981). Becker shows how US government programs have helped maintain the illegitimate birth rate at a constant level at a time when the legitimate birth rate has fallen and both abortion and contraception have become more available, W. Brian Arthur informs us in his recent review in this journal (Arthur, 1982, p. 393) of Becker's work. In another review of the same book, it is reported that, according to Becker, [t]he rise of the state is a major factor in the increase in unmarried mothers (Richer, 1982, p. 8). And a wellknown macroeconomist, Robert Gordon, has likewise recently referred to welfare provisions as a major influence in the decline in two-adult households in American cities (in Feldstein, 1980, p. 341). To this reader, such unambiguous reports from economists of a relationship between and illegitimacy in the United States were welcome news indeed. For common sense tells us that reducing the need for husbands in child bearing and rearing should reduce their actual number as well. But it has been devilishly difficult to show such an effect statistically (Cutright, 1970, 1971; Moore and Caldwell, 1977; Moore and Burt, 1982). Therefore, upon encountering this recent flurry of reports indicating matter-of-factly that the link is now
Political science · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,1 |
| Citation span | 1984 - 1999 (16) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |