Social issues are economic issues. That’s the takeaway from the recently released Index of Culture and Opportunity from the Heritage Foundation. It examined the trends prevailing in 31 culture indicators that influence opportunity in America. Things like:
- The health of marriage and the family
- Respect for life
- Education and economic opportunity
- Self-sufficiency
- Volunteering
- Labor force participation
It concluded that the health of our society is distressing because too many Americans have detached from these vital institutions. Take getting married for example: a core economic institution. In America, marriages have been in a decade-long decline. Fewer children are being born and raised to wedded mothers and fathers. Countless studies have shown that children raised in non-intact families tend to fair less well in a variety of areas: including educational achievement and economic mobility.
Today more than half of all American children have spent at least some portion of their childhood in a broken household. The implications of this trend are felt throughout all sectors of society. Including factoring into the more than $1 trillion dollars spent annually on welfare programs that seem to keep people trapped in poverty and dependence.
Want economic success? Perhaps it’s time to embrace the core influencers of American opportunity again.