January, 2008

(De-)Regulating the Family

by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers
The Conversation
January 30th, 2008

We have previously noted the deregulation of family life that began in the middle of the last century, and thought it worth thought that it would be useful to summarize what happened and what social scientists have learned about the effects of these changes. To be clear about terminology, by “deregulation,” we are referring to [...]

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Divorce and Children: What Do We Know?

by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers
The Conversation
January 27th, 2008

Our job as social scientists is to help disentangle causation from correlation. This can be a very difficult, and sometimes impossible, job. Sometimes it is a matter of the chicken and the egg. For instance, we know that divorced people are more likely to drink, use drugs, have lower income, and be less happy. But [...]

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