The Truth About the Free Market Family
Reason magazine|January 2021
HERE IS AN ambiguity, if not a bait and switch, at the heart of Maxine Eichner’s The FreeMarket Family. In her telling, the last 40 years of American public policy have left families to fend for themselves in the marketplace while providing little in the way of support for children and working parents. Filled with both broad data and specific anecdotes, the book argues that we are failing to raise healthy, well-adjusted children because market incentives and poor public policy make it hard for parents to juggle work and child care, even as growing economic inequality, driven by free markets, has made it harder for lower-income adults to find good jobs.
STEVEN HORWITZ
The Truth About the Free Market Family

Eichner, a law professor at the University of North Carolina, proposes several comprehensive, European-style government programs to address these problems. What she does not consider is whether any of the challenges facing families can be traced to the ways the U.S. economy is not a free market, and whether we could do more good by removing counterproductive policies than by imitating Western Europe.

A GENUINELY FREE market family agenda could start with reforming tax laws to ease the burden on two-income families with children. As Edward McCaffery documented in his 1997 book Taxing Women, the U.S. tax code is biased against secondary earners, who are usually women. The secondary earner’s first dollar is taxed at the same high rate as the primary earner’s last dollar, because we don’t allow true individual filing for married couples.

Allowing true individual filing would make it much easier for many couples to balance work and child care, because it would reduce the marginal tax rates on secondary earners, making the after-tax income from market work higher. Those extra dollars could ease the burden of child care expenses. This would be especially true if it were combined with making day care and work-related expenditures tax deductible. Deregulation of the day care market would help this process as well: Existing rules, such as zoning laws, limit entry and thereby limit competition, keeping prices needlessly high.

Greater competition in the provision of K-12 schooling would also help families balance work and child care, by offering them alternative educational structures.

Bu hikaye Reason magazine dergisinin January 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

Bu hikaye Reason magazine dergisinin January 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

REASON MAGAZINE DERGISINDEN DAHA FAZLA HIKAYETümünü görüntüle
THE REAL THREAT IS AN ISOLATED CHINA
Reason magazine

THE REAL THREAT IS AN ISOLATED CHINA

DECOUPLING FROM TRADE WILL MAKE THE U.S. POORER AND CHINA MORE TOTALITARIAN.

time-read
10+ dak  |
February 2025
Against Our Own Best Souls'
Reason magazine

Against Our Own Best Souls'

SISTER HELEN PREJEAN ON HERLIFE ASA WITNESS ON DEATH ROW

time-read
10+ dak  |
February 2025
'THE POLITICS HAVE COME TO US'
Reason magazine

'THE POLITICS HAVE COME TO US'

HOW A CHRISTIAN CHARITY IN EL PASO ENDED UP AT WAR WITH THE TEXAS GOVERNMENT FOR HELPING UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS

time-read
10+ dak  |
February 2025
MATERIEL LOSS
Reason magazine

MATERIEL LOSS

HOW THE U.S. MILITARY BUSTS ITS BUDGET ON WASTEFUL, CARELESS, AND UNNECESSARY 'SELF-LICKING ICE CREAM CONES'

time-read
10+ dak  |
February 2025
'NOT A SUICIDE PACT'
Reason magazine

'NOT A SUICIDE PACT'

HOW A 1949 SUPREME COURT DISSENT GAVE BIRTH TO A MEME THAT SUBVERTS FREE SPEECH AND CIVIL LIBERTIES

time-read
10+ dak  |
February 2025
HOW MUSK CAN HELP TRUMP CUT TRILLIONS
Reason magazine

HOW MUSK CAN HELP TRUMP CUT TRILLIONS

DURING PRESIDENT DONALD Trump’s first term in office, the national debt increased by $8 trillion—due, in large part, to huge spending hikes that Congress passed and Trump signed.

time-read
5 dak  |
February 2025
THE IMPROBABLE RISE OF MAGA-MUSK
Reason magazine

THE IMPROBABLE RISE OF MAGA-MUSK

IS ELON MUSK A REACTIONARY WITHA DEFECTIVE BULLSHIT METER OR THE BEST PART OF THE SECOND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION?

time-read
10+ dak  |
February 2025
A Free-Range Family
Reason magazine

A Free-Range Family

RIGHT NOW, CHILDHOOD is intensely meh. Maybe you read the recent report in The Journal of Pediatrics that said that as kids' independence and free play have gone down, their anxiety and depression have been going up.

time-read
3 dak  |
February 2025
Educulture Wars
Reason magazine

Educulture Wars

THE CULTURE WAR is costing school districts billions, according to a report released in October 2024 by the UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access. The report surveyed superintendents at 467 school districts nationwide about extra expenditures they undertook because of increased conflict over culture war issues such as critical race theory, book chal- lenges, gender-related debates, and other politicized topics. The report estimates that such fights cost school districts around $3.2 billion during the 2023-2024 school year.

time-read
1 min  |
February 2025
Q&A Penny Lane
Reason magazine

Q&A Penny Lane

PENNY LANE'S NEW Netflix documentary, Confessions of a Good Samaritan, delves into her life-changing decision to donate a kidney to a stranger. Known for her thoughtful and provocative storytelling, Lane has explored human connection and empathy in films such as Hail Satan? and The Pain of Others. Last October she spoke with Reason's Nick Gillespie and shared her emotional, physical, and philosophical experience with anonymous kidney donation and the challenges that came with it.

time-read
2 dak  |
February 2025