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Economic Inequality

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The Gender Pay Gap by Race and Ethnicity

Posted on June 5, 2013 in Brief Reports

On average, white women earn 81 percent of what white men make. At first glance it may appear that there is more gender equality among minority men and women than among whites. Hispanic or Latina women make 88 percent of what Latinos do and African American women make 90 percent of what their male counterparts make. But when we add race to gender, these pay gaps become a veritable chasm. Read more to find out.

Poverty, Hardship and Families: How Many People Are Poor, and What Does Being Poor in America Really Mean?

Posted on December 5, 2011 in Brief Reports

MEDIA CONTACT: Virginia Rutter Associate Professor of Sociology Framingham State University Board Member, Council on Contemporary Families Email: vrutter@gmail.com Phone: 206-375-4139 Retailers report that this year’s post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend broke all previous records, raising predictions of “the best holiday shopping season ever.” Yet the number of people living in poverty has also broken all previous […]

Topics of Expertise: Economic Inequality

The Rising Age Gap in Economic Well-Being: The Old Prosper Relative to the Young

Posted on November 7, 2011 in Brief Reports

By Richard Fry, Senior Economist D’Vera Cohn, Senior Writer Gretchen Livingston, Senior Researcher Paul Taylor, Director Social & Demographic Trends Project Pew Research Households headed by older adults have made dramatic gains relative to those headed by younger adults in their economic well-being over the past quarter of a century, according to a new […]

Topics of Expertise: Economic Inequality

Mass Incarceration and America’s Families

Posted on October 12, 2010 in Brief Reports

Low-income communities are disproportionately affected by America’s mass incarceration practices. Residents are more likely to be arrested, prosecuted, and sent to jail for the same offenses that lead to warnings, probation, or treatment programs in more affluent neighborhoods. Most convictions in low-income communities, contrary to popular impression, are for nonviolent acts, with drug users and the mentally ill heavily overrepresented in the prison population.

Topics of Expertise: Economic Inequality

The Long-Range Impact of the Recession on Families

Posted on April 16, 2010 in Brief Reports

Experts: Stephanie Coontz

By Valerie Adrian Research Intern Council on Contemporary Families Stephanie Coontz, M.A. Co-Chair and Director of Research and Public Education Council on Contemporary Families The economy is now out of free fall, but the impact of recent economic losses on families will continue for many years to come. An overview of the economic, unemployment […]

Topics of Expertise: Aging / Economic Inequality / Transition - Adolescents to Adulthood

‘One Stroke of the Pen’: The 47-year struggle to end racial discrimination in housing

Posted on November 17, 2009 in Brief Reports

Forty-seven years ago, on November 20, 1962, President Kennedy signed Executive Order 11063, prohibiting federally-funded housing agencies from denying mortgages to any person based on their race, color, creed or national origin. Many strokes of many other presidents’ pens followed, including the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1968 Fair Housing Act, the 1975 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, and the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act. Yet for more than 30 years after Kennedy’s order, whites were much more likely to receive home mortgage loans than blacks with the same qualifications.

Topics of Expertise: Economic Inequality / TANF & Public Assistance

Economic Woes = Family Stress

Posted on June 19, 2008 in Brief Reports

Experts: Stephanie Coontz

By Valerie Adrian, Research Intern Council On Contemporary Families Stephanie Coontz, Co-Chair and Director of Research and Public Education Council on Contemporary Families AMERICANS CAUGHT BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE The Hard Place: Our Housing Crisis In just 10 years, between 1996 and 2006, Americans saw the value of their houses double. As […]

Topics of Expertise: Economic Inequality / Work & Family

How Should We Think About the Taxpayer Consequences of Divorce?

Posted on April 15, 2008 in Brief Reports

Experts: Betsey Stevenson / Justin Wolfers

A new report, “The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing: First-Ever Estimates for the Nation and all 50 States”, raises the question of how much divorce costs taxpayers. This is an intriguing question, but unfortunately this report falls short on providing the answer. In the worst traditions of “advocacy science” the authors pick […]

Topics of Expertise: Couples Conflict, Separation & Divorce / Economic Inequality / Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Gender & Sexuality / Marriage & Divorce / TANF & Public Assistance

It’s April 15: Do You Know Where Your Income Tax Dollars Are Going?

Posted on April 15, 2008 in Brief Reports

Experts: Andrew Cherlin

Americans tend to think we are better off than families in most other industrial countries because we pay lower income taxes. But when we factor in the higher amount Americans pay for health care, child care, and education, the comparison is not always in our favor. Where do American families’ tax dollars go and […]

Topics of Expertise: Economic Inequality / Health & Illness / Health Care / Labor & Workforce / TANF & Public Assistance / Work & Family

Marriage, Poverty, and Public Policy

Posted on April 28, 2002 in Brief Reports

Experts: Stephanie Coontz

In this briefing paper, we question both this explanation of poverty and the policy prescriptions that derive from it.Marriage offers important social and economic benefits. Children who grow up with married parents generally enjoy a higher standard of living than those living in single-parent households. Two parents are usually better than one not only because they can bring home two paychecks, but also because they can share responsibilities for child care. Marriage often leads to higher levels of paternal involvement than divorce, non-marriage, or cohabitation. Long-term commitments to provide love and support to one another are beneficial for adults, as well as children.

Topics of Expertise: Economic Inequality / TANF & Public Assistance

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EXPERTS

Dolores Acevedo-Garcia

Samuel F. and Rose B. Gingold Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, Director, Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy/ The Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University

M. V. Lee Badgett

Professor of Economics, School of Public Policy UMass Amherst; Williams Institute UCLA

Jessica Calarco

Assistant Professor of Sociology, Indiana University

Kelly Campbell

Professor of Psychology, California State University, San Bernardino

David Cotter

Professor of Sociology, Union College

Robert Crosnoe

Chair, Department of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin

Sarah Damaske

Associate Professor of Labor and Employment Relations and Sociology, The Pennsylvania State University

Katherine Gallagher Robbins

Director of Family Policy, Center for American Progress

Kathleen Gerson

Collegiate Professor of Sociology, New York University

Jennifer Glass

Professor of Sociology , University of Texas, Austin

Pilar Gonalons-Pons

Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania

Rachel Gordon

Professor of Sociology & Faculty Fellow of the Honors College, University of Illinois at Chicago

Janet C. Gornick

Director, Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality, Graduate Center CUNY

Jeffrey Hayes

Program Director, Institute for Women's Policy Research

Natalie Hengstebeck

Postdoctoral Fellow, Scholars Strategy Network, Duke University

Clare Huntington

Professor and Associate Dean for Research, Fordham Law School

Roberta Iversen

Associate Professor and Faculty Director of the Master of Science in Social Policy program, University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice

Arielle Kuperberg

Associate Professor of Sociology, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Tama Leventhal

Associate Professor, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development, Tufts University

Ricci Levy

President and CEO, Woodhull Freedom Foundation

Joan Maya Mazelis

Associate Professor, Rutgers University-Camden

Kelly Musick

Professor and Interim Department Chair of Policy Analysis and Management, Director of the Cornell Population Center, Cornell University

Joanna Pepin

NICHD Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Texas at Austin

Maureen Perry-Jenkins

Professor of Psychology & Director of Center for Research on Families, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Allison Pugh

Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Virginia

Jennifer Randles

Assistant Professor of Sociology, California State University-Fresno

Lee Roper-Batker

President and CEO, Community Foundations

Pamela J. Smock

Professor, Department of Sociology & Population Studies Center, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor

David Trimble

Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University Medical School; Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology, Boston Medical Center; American Family Therapy Academy; Boston Center for Culturally Affirming Practices

Justin Wolfers

Professor of Economics and Public Policy, University of Michigan

Nicholas Wolfinger

Professor of Family & Consumer Studies and Adjunct Professor of Sociology, University of Utah

Colleen Wynn

Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Indianapolis