The war between the state & the family : how government divides and impoverishes / Patricia Morgan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morgan, Patricia M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public welfare--Great Britain.

Public welfare.

Great Britain.

Family policy--Great Britain.

Family policy.

Great Britain--Social policy.

Social policy.

Physical Description:

152 pages ; 23 cm

Other Title:

The war between the state and the family

Place of Publication:

New Brunswick, N.J. : Transaction Publishers, [2008]

Summary:

Patricia Morgan's core assumption is that the family is an extremely effective vehicle for raising the welfare of its members. If this is correct it is quite possible that the state can best support the family by doing very little-by not taxing the family heavily and by minimizing the subsidization of those who choose alternatives to financially self-sustaining family life.

At one level, Morgan argues, the family can be seen as a unit within which there occurs enormous transfer of economic resources between husband and wife, parents and children, and, on a wider scale, within extended families. The family is the most important vehicle of welfare and the welfare vehicle of first resort. Within the family many services are provided by family members to each other, rarely for direct personal benefit. Basic economic analysis, Morgan asserts, suggests that the family could be seriously undermined if the state provided significant support for dependents who are not brought up within self-sustaining family units, and if it also provided services, such as childcare, that are generally provided within families. This work shows that this is precisely what has happened in the last twenty-five years.

The driving force of significantly reduced family formation is not economic but social. Perhaps social changes have led to a desire by individuals to bring up children in family circumstances different from those of a generation or two ago, but evidence does not support this hypothesis. Rather, tax and benefit systems seem to be important determinants of family structure worldwide. Patricia Morgan does not simply analyze the problem, she also suggests policy solutions. The author argues that divorce laws should be reformed to ensure that those who make commitments are held financially responsible. The author's argument is compelling because it is backed up with strong evidence and is argued from an unemotional economic perspective-individuals within families are rational agents who respond to incentives.

Contents:

1 Household fragmentation and the decline of marriage 15

Lonely planet: getting away from them all 15

The retreat from marriage 18

Analysing the evidence 21

2 The economic and social consequences of atomisation 22

Atomisation in the big picture 22

Problems in life 27

Down, out and dependent: women and children 29

Down, out and dependent: men 36

What's in the bank? 39

The family: welfare provider of first resort 41

The big distribution 44

3 The enemies of collaboration 49

Collaboration: a bad press 49

Collaboration: enemies everywhere 51

Abolishing marriage 56

Mother right 58

The state as breadwinner: the Tory years 62

The state as child carer: the Brown revolution 66

The CSA 70

Consequences of the policies pursued since the early 1980s 72

Faking it 74

4 Cause and effect 81

Coincidence? 81

Do people respond to incentives? 82

The factors involved 88

State of the evidence 96

The international scene 101

Labour market influences on lone parenthood 110

The male factor 116

5 Rhetoric and reality 122

The phoney war on lone parents 122

Changing the climate 124

Liability for child support 126

Divorce laws and incentives to commit 127

Cheaper as one 131

6 More of the same or a new policy approach? 135

The mounting costs 135

More of the same? 138

Something better? 142

Wider horizons 152.

Notes:

Originally published: London : Institute of Economic Affairs, 2007.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781412807548

1412807549

OCLC:

190777469