
The Two-Parent Privilege
How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $17.19
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Cait Raymond
About this listen
In The Two-Parent Privilege, Melissa S. Kearney makes a data-driven case for marriage by showing how the institution's decline has led to a host of economic woes—problems that have fractured American society and rendered vulnerable populations even more vulnerable. Eschewing the religious and values-based arguments that have long dominated this conversation, Kearney shows how the greatest impacts of marriage are, in fact, economic: when two adults marry, their economic and household lives improve, offering a host of benefits not only for the married adults but for their children. Studies show that these effects are today starker, and more unevenly distributed, than ever before. Kearney examines the underlying causes of the marriage decline in the US and draws lessons for how this trend can be reversed.
Kearney's research shows that a household that includes two married parents functions as an economic vehicle that advantages some children over others. For many, the two-parent home may be an old-fashioned symbol of the American dream. But this book makes it clear that marriage may be our best path to a more equitable future. By confronting the critical role that family makeup plays in shaping children's futures, Kearney offers a critical assessment of what a decline in marriage means for an economy and a society—and what we must do to change course.
©2023 The University of Chicago (P)2024 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Troubled
- A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class
- By: Rob Henderson
- Narrated by: Rob Henderson
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rob Henderson was born to a drug-addicted mother and a father he never met, ultimately shuttling between ten different foster homes in California. When he was adopted into a loving family, he hoped that life would finally be stable and safe. But divorce, tragedy, poverty, and violence marked his adolescent and teen years, propelling Henderson to join the military upon completing high school.
-
-
a terrifying threat to progressive world view b.s.
- By Anonymous User on 04-04-24
By: Rob Henderson
-
Family Unfriendly
- How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder than It Needs to Be
- By: Timothy P. Carney
- Narrated by: Timothy P. Carney
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our culture tells parents there's one best way to raise kids: enroll them in a dozen activities, protect them from trauma, and get them into the most expensive college you can. If you can't do that, don't bother. How is that going? Record rates of anxiety, depression, medication, debts, loneliness and more. In Family Unfriendly, bestselling author and Washington Examiner columnist Timothy P. Carney says it's time to end this failed experiment in overparenting.
-
-
Much needed spotlight on our cultural norms
- By Christopher Milner on 12-14-24
-
Get Married
- Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization
- By: Brad Wilcox
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America is in crisis. Happiness is falling, loneliness and despair are rising, too many schools are riddled by fights and failure, crime is unacceptably high, and the American Dream is out of reach for millions. The problems are visible to us all, but virtually no one is talking about the solution that matters most: Marriage. New research by University of Virginia sociologist Brad Wilcox shows that Americans who get married and have children today are leading happier and more prosperous lives, on average, than men and women who are single and childless.
-
-
Excellent lessons in the value of marriage
- By Lena on 06-02-24
By: Brad Wilcox
-
How the World Became Rich
- The Historical Origins of Economic Growth
- By: Mark Koyama, Jared Rubin
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin dive into the many theories of why modern economic growth happened when and where it did. They discuss recently advanced theories rooted in geography, politics, culture, demography, and colonialism. Pieces of each of these theories help explain key events on the path to modern riches. Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in eighteenth-century Britain? Why did some European countries, the United States, and Japan catch up in the nineteenth century? Why did it take until the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries for other countries?
-
-
Nice and insightful
- By Marina on 10-22-24
By: Mark Koyama, and others
-
Barbarians Inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A collection of essays that discusses such issues as the media, immigration, the minimum wage, and multiculturalism.
-
-
Mr. Sowell exposed the soul of America.
- By rutituti. on 11-24-23
By: Thomas Sowell
-
Party of the People
- Inside the Multiracial Populist Coalition Remaking the GOP
- By: Patrick Ruffini
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election shocked the world. Yet his defeat in 2020 may have been even more surprising: he received 12 million more votes in 2020 than in 2016 and his unexpectedly diverse coalition included millions of nonwhite voters, a rarity for the modern Republican party. In 2020, Trump defied expectations and few journalists, strategists, or politicians could explain why Trump had nearly won reelection. Patrick Ruffini, a Republican pollster and one of the country’s leading experts on political targeting, technology, and demography, has the answers.
-
-
In light of 2024
- By dell992 on 11-13-24
By: Patrick Ruffini
-
Troubled
- A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class
- By: Rob Henderson
- Narrated by: Rob Henderson
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rob Henderson was born to a drug-addicted mother and a father he never met, ultimately shuttling between ten different foster homes in California. When he was adopted into a loving family, he hoped that life would finally be stable and safe. But divorce, tragedy, poverty, and violence marked his adolescent and teen years, propelling Henderson to join the military upon completing high school.
-
-
a terrifying threat to progressive world view b.s.
- By Anonymous User on 04-04-24
By: Rob Henderson
-
Family Unfriendly
- How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder than It Needs to Be
- By: Timothy P. Carney
- Narrated by: Timothy P. Carney
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Our culture tells parents there's one best way to raise kids: enroll them in a dozen activities, protect them from trauma, and get them into the most expensive college you can. If you can't do that, don't bother. How is that going? Record rates of anxiety, depression, medication, debts, loneliness and more. In Family Unfriendly, bestselling author and Washington Examiner columnist Timothy P. Carney says it's time to end this failed experiment in overparenting.
-
-
Much needed spotlight on our cultural norms
- By Christopher Milner on 12-14-24
-
Get Married
- Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization
- By: Brad Wilcox
- Narrated by: Mark Deakins
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
America is in crisis. Happiness is falling, loneliness and despair are rising, too many schools are riddled by fights and failure, crime is unacceptably high, and the American Dream is out of reach for millions. The problems are visible to us all, but virtually no one is talking about the solution that matters most: Marriage. New research by University of Virginia sociologist Brad Wilcox shows that Americans who get married and have children today are leading happier and more prosperous lives, on average, than men and women who are single and childless.
-
-
Excellent lessons in the value of marriage
- By Lena on 06-02-24
By: Brad Wilcox
-
How the World Became Rich
- The Historical Origins of Economic Growth
- By: Mark Koyama, Jared Rubin
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Mark Koyama and Jared Rubin dive into the many theories of why modern economic growth happened when and where it did. They discuss recently advanced theories rooted in geography, politics, culture, demography, and colonialism. Pieces of each of these theories help explain key events on the path to modern riches. Why did the Industrial Revolution begin in eighteenth-century Britain? Why did some European countries, the United States, and Japan catch up in the nineteenth century? Why did it take until the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries for other countries?
-
-
Nice and insightful
- By Marina on 10-22-24
By: Mark Koyama, and others
-
Barbarians Inside the Gates and Other Controversial Essays
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A collection of essays that discusses such issues as the media, immigration, the minimum wage, and multiculturalism.
-
-
Mr. Sowell exposed the soul of America.
- By rutituti. on 11-24-23
By: Thomas Sowell
-
Party of the People
- Inside the Multiracial Populist Coalition Remaking the GOP
- By: Patrick Ruffini
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 10 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election shocked the world. Yet his defeat in 2020 may have been even more surprising: he received 12 million more votes in 2020 than in 2016 and his unexpectedly diverse coalition included millions of nonwhite voters, a rarity for the modern Republican party. In 2020, Trump defied expectations and few journalists, strategists, or politicians could explain why Trump had nearly won reelection. Patrick Ruffini, a Republican pollster and one of the country’s leading experts on political targeting, technology, and demography, has the answers.
-
-
In light of 2024
- By dell992 on 11-13-24
By: Patrick Ruffini
-
Late Admissions
- Confessions of a Black Conservative
- By: Glenn Loury
- Narrated by: Glenn Loury
- Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A shockingly frank memoir from a prize-winning economist, reflecting on his remarkable personal odyssey and his changing positions on identity, race, and belief.
-
-
Engaging listen. Full of lurid details
- By Melody on 06-23-24
By: Glenn Loury
-
Against Empathy
- The Case for Rational Compassion
- By: Paul Bloom
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 7 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most people, including many policy makers, activists, scientists, and philosophers, have encouraged us to be more empathetic - to feel the pain and pleasure of others. Yale researcher and author Paul Bloom argues that this is a mistake. Far from leading us to improve the lives of others, empathy is a capricious and irrational emotion that appeals to our narrow prejudices. It muddles our judgment and often leads to cruelty. We are at our best when we are smart enough not to rely on it and draw upon a more distanced compassion.
-
-
Starts strong, fizzles out.
- By Tristan on 04-04-17
By: Paul Bloom
-
Poverty for Profit
- How Corporations Get Rich Off America's Poor
- By: Anne Kim
- Narrated by: Rebecca Lam
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Poverty is big business in America. The federal government spends about $900 billion a year on programs that directly or disproportionately impact poor Americans, including antipoverty programs. States and local governments spend tens of billions more. Ironically, these enormous sums fuel the "corporate poverty complex," a vast web of hidden industries and entrenched private-sector interests that profit from the bureaucracies regulating the lives of the poor.
By: Anne Kim
-
The Case Against Education
- Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money
- By: Bryan Caplan
- Narrated by: Allan Robertson
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Despite being immensely popular - and immensely lucrative - education is grossly overrated. In this explosive book, Bryan Caplan argues that the primary function of education is not to enhance students' skill but to certify their intelligence, work ethic, and conformity - in other words, to signal the qualities of a good employee.
-
-
Finally, someone says what needs to be said about education
- By Brandon B. on 05-17-18
By: Bryan Caplan
-
Race to the Bottom
- Uncovering the Secret Forces Destroying American Public Education
- By: Luke Rosiak
- Narrated by: Charles Constant
- Length: 9 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Race to the Bottom, Luke Rosiak uncovers the shocking reason why American education is failing: Powerful special interest groups are using our kids as guinea pigs in vast ideological experiments. These groups’ initiatives aren’t focused on making children smarter—but on implementing a radical agenda, no matter the effect on academic standards.
-
-
This is literally 100% propaganda.
- By Ekim N. on 03-11-22
By: Luke Rosiak
-
Hannah's Children
- The Stories of Women Quietly Defying the Birth Dearth
- By: Catherine Pakaluk
- Narrated by: Jaimee Draper
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the midst of a historic "birth dearth," why do some 5 percent of American women choose to defy the demographic norm by bearing five or more children? Hannah’s Children is a compelling portrait of these overlooked but fascinating mothers who, like the biblical Hannah, see their children as their purpose, their contribution, and their greatest blessing. The social scientist Catherine Pakaluk, herself the mother of eight, traveled across the United States and interviewed fifty-five college-educated women who were raising five or more children.
-
-
Life Changing
- By Simone & Malcolm Collins on 12-02-24
-
The Unprotected Class
- How Anti-White Racism Is Tearing America Apart
- By: Jeremy Carl
- Narrated by: Chris Reilly
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While political and media elites hysterically condemn an imaginary epidemic of “white supremacy,” in the real world, white Americans are often openly discriminated against. Indeed, anti-white policies have become so interwoven in the fabric of American life that we often fail to recognize them.
-
-
Brave and Important Book!
- By Daniel on 05-31-24
By: Jeremy Carl
-
The Gardener and the Carpenter
- What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children
- By: Alison Gopnik
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Gardener and the Carpenter, pioneering developmental psychologist and philosopher Alison Gopnik argues that the familiar 21st-century picture of parents and children is profoundly wrong - it's not just based on bad science, it's bad for kids and parents, too. Drawing on the study of human evolution and her own cutting-edge scientific research into how children learn, Gopnik shows that although caring for children is profoundly important, it is not a matter of shaping them to turn out a particular way.
-
-
Too much blathering
- By Brian on 03-11-19
By: Alison Gopnik
-
The Closing of the American Mind
- By: Allan Bloom
- Narrated by: Christopher Hurt
- Length: 14 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In one of the most important books of our time, Allan Bloom, a professor of social thought at the University of Chicago and a noted translator of Plato and Rousseau, argues that the social and political crisis of 20th-century America is really an intellectual crisis.
-
-
VERY IMPORTANT WORK!
- By Douglas on 06-29-10
By: Allan Bloom
-
Crisis of Confidence
- Reclaiming the Historic Faith in a Culture Consumed with Individualism and Identity
- By: Carl R. Trueman
- Narrated by: R. E. Biddulph
- Length: 8 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Historic statements of faith—such as the Heidelberg Catechism, the Apostles’ Creed, and the Westminster Confession of Faith—have helped the Christian church articulate and adhere to God’s truth for centuries. However, many modern evangelicals reject these historic documents and the practices of catechesis, proclaiming their commitment to “no creed but the Bible.” And yet, in today’s rapidly changing culture, ancient liturgical tradition is not only biblical—it’s essential.
-
-
Very relevant to this time in the modern church life.
- By Randy McLemore on 05-16-24
By: Carl R. Trueman
-
The Case Against the Sexual Revolution
- By: Louise Perry
- Narrated by: Louise Perry
- Length: 6 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The sexual revolution has liberated us to enjoy a heady mixture of erotic freedom and personal autonomy. Right? Wrong, argues Louise Perry in her provocative new book.
-
-
A feminist's advice to girls and young women
- By Wayne on 02-17-23
By: Louise Perry
-
Race and Culture
- A World View
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Thomas Sowell is one of America’s leading voices on matters of race and ethnicity. In his book, Inside American Education, he surveyed the ills of American education from the primary grades to graduate school with “an impressive range of knowledge and acuity of observation”, according to the Wall Street Journal. Now, in his book Race and Culture, he asks the question: “What is it that allows certain groups to get ahead?” and the answer will undoubtedly create debates for years to come.
-
-
Thomas Sowell is rare breed of public intellectual
- By PAUL on 09-03-12
By: Thomas Sowell
Where's the PDF of graphs?
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Topic
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Two parents are better than one
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent overview of the issue.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Two-Parent Privilege is an important book written by a very capable economist. I'm saddened to have to return it.
Get the printed or ebook version!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
No new information
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.