Thanks for Nothing: The Economics of Single Motherhood since 1980

In 1980, single mother families were five times more likely than two-parent families to be poor. Forty years later, single-mother families are still five times more likely to be poor. How can this be given the vast increases in education and employment achieved by American women over this period? In Thanks for Nothing, Nicholas H. Wolfinger and Matthew McKeever explore the contradictions that lie at the heart of single motherhood. Drawing on forty years of data from two large national surveys, they find that the mystery of single mothers' economic stagnation can be explained by changes in the kind of women most likely to become single mothers. In 1980, most single mothers were divorced women; forty years later, the majority are mothers who gave birth out of wedlock. On paper, divorced women look a lot like their married contemporaries, but with one income instead of two. Never-married mothers are a completely different population--they have less education, work less, and receive lower economic returns on their educational credentials when they do work. They're also far more likely to have grown up in underprivileged families. Ultimately, Wolfinger and McKeever find that some single mothers are doing better even as others have fallen through the cracks. Providing an in-depth look into the economics of single motherhood, Thanks for Nothing offers the most detailed statistical portrait of single mothers to date and, importantly, provides concrete suggestions for how policymakers should respond to persisting inequalities among mothers.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Introduction: The Original Mommy War Chapter 2: Who Are These Mothers? Chapter 3: Counting Change Chapter 4: From Moynihan to Piketty Chapter 5: Thirty-Nine Years in the Lives of Mothers Chapter 6: Thirty-Nine Years of Counting Change Chapter 7: Conclusion: Where Have We Been, and Where Should We Go Now? Notes References Index

About the Author :
Nicholas H. Wolfinger is Professor of Family and Consumer Studies and Adjunct Professor of Sociology at the University of Utah. He is the author or editor of five books, as well as 40 articles and chapters. His work has been published in The Atlantic, National Review, Huffington Post, and other outlets. Matthew McKeever is Professor of Sociology and Department Chair at Haverford College. His research focuses on the structure of social inequality within a variety of institutional, cultural, and regional contexts. This work examines different theories regarding the distribution of education, occupation, and income, and how processes that determine the distribution of these resources vary regionally.

Review :
A must-read for anyone concerned about the crisis of child poverty in America, whatever their views about 'family values' and the interpersonal benefits (or not) of getting and staying married. This book is a tour de force for understanding the economic disadvantage of single mothers over the past forty years. I have no doubt it will become a classic in the study of single motherhood and will be a compelling read for anyone concerned about families, economics, and public policy! How have the economic circumstances of single mothers changed over the past four decades? In this elegantly written and lucid monograph, Wolfinger and McKeever carefully trace single mothers' economic wellbeing over a forty-year time span. The analyses are thoughtful, and discussion of results and policy options is refreshingly balanced. This book will be of substantial interest to those concerned with the past and present economic precarity of single mothers and their children. Even though women have made dramatic gains in education and work in the last half century, one group of women has not seen their financial fortunes much improve: single mothers. In Thanks for Nothing, Wolfinger and McKeever explain how declines in divorce and rising rates of never-married motherhood combine to help explain the continuing economic stagnation of single mothers. This masterful and measured book paints an invaluable and well-written financial picture of single motherhood in America today. In a world where fact and opinion frequently overlap and even social science research may feel somewhat agenda-driven, Thanks for Nothing is a straightforward, valuable tool. With clear prose and deep, consistently high-quality analysis, Wolfinger and McKeever sort fact from fiction when it comes to family structure and what it portends. Anyone interested in the factors that help families thrive or hinder them will find useful data that's easy to understand within these pages.