Four in Ten Children are Born on Medicaid
So should we blame the moms? Bryan Caplan seems to say yes:
I’m not insisting on perfect foreknowledge, just common sense. If you insist on marriage prior to pregnancy, you screen out an awful lot of unreliable men. And there are many other excellent ways to filter out cads: Lengthen the courtship, prefer older men, wait for your man to get a steady job, avoid men with questionable family and friends, etc. Even if the marriage eventually ends in divorce, you’ve still greatly mitigated the financial harm to yourself, your kids, and taxpayers.
See his exchange with his critics at Econlog.
This should be self-evident to most people. Uneducated, single mothers rearing children without fathers is the single biggest cause of female and child poverty. Moreover, the responsibility of having to care for a child arguable inhibits young women from engaging in the types of activities where they might be able to meet a suitable mate.
The comments on the Econlog blog in response to Bryan Caplan’s post are interesting. Many people disagreed with his point. But I think his point is an important one. One comment suggests that poor women have no choice but to date losers or risk ending up as childless, old maids. However, if poor women made good use of the time while looking for a decent mate to acquire education and job training, I bet by the time they’ve finished they will be able to attract a better quality of male suitors.
We’re overlooking the cultural aspects of this. It isn’t as simple as telling a woman to delay children. It’s part of her culture. Her friends are doing it. If she doesn’t have children, she’s the outcast, not everyone else. Even if it’s the financially prudent thing to do, she has huge incentives to follow the pack and huge social penalties if she dares to choose a different life.
I always find Caplan’s take on issues that normal fit into the more traditional “social issues” category interesting.