Stanford economist Fuchs (Who Shall Lire?), a specialist in medical
and labor statistics, has set out to explain recent American social
changes in economic terms - "attitudes" aside - and to make policy
recommendations accordingly. For each age group, he tries to relate
changes in external circumstances (income, prices, demographics) to
trends in family life, work, health, and education. There are some
surprises, many speculations, and (inevitably) some disputable
conclusions. Fuchs does, at the outset, lay out his "themes": apart
from the foregoing, "the fading family," "demography and destiny,"
"wanting and waiting" (delaying gratification - per investing in
health, education), and "the impossibility of reconciling all
worthwhile social goals." The last forces Fuchs to distinguish
between efficiency and justice, and take account of values. Thus,
the black-white differential in infant mortality is chiefly
attributable to the low birth weight of black babies (for which
there is, as yet, no proven explanation or corrective); but the
increased survival of low-weight babies, and of others who need
intensive neonatal care, can only be achieved at very high cost (an
average of $40,000 per baby at a Los Angeles hospital in 1976). The
well-being of children, in turn, is found to depend on the mother's
level of education more than any other single factor (including
income and race); and this is one of the places where Fuchs, in
company with such well-known conservatives as Edward Banfield, lays
great weight on delaying gratification, or investing-in-the-future
- by having fewer children, by spending time with them (and taking
them to the doctor, etc.), by raising them to be future-oriented
too. (Fuchs thinks the causality runs from gratification-delay to
schooling, but says he can't prove it.) Moving on, he finds all
adolescents staying in school longer and more (hot fewer)
adolescents getting jobs - but, as publicized, relatively fewer
young blacks are working. This may be attributable, a recent study
indicates, to the mechanization of Southern agriculture and the
effect of minimum wage laws in the South: elsewhere, the rates
hardly changed. Also among teenagers, the illegitimacy rate has
tripled since 1960: "the social stigma has been greatly reduced and
government has come forward as a source of support." And, finally,
the death rate among young people alone is rising - on account of
motor vehicle accidents, homicides, and especially suicides.
Solutions to this daunting set of problems? Not simplistic
(reducing AFDC payments would probably decrease the number of
illegitimate births, but would also increase the misery of those
born); and always argued through (why, for instance, minimum
incomes would help the poor more than minimum wages do). As regards
adults 25-44, Fuchs demonstrates that married mothers went to work,
and fertility dropped, before the onset of feminism; with respect
to adults 45-64, the major consideration is income inequality -
which Fuchs attributes to "differences in the contributions that
workers make" but which he would mitigate (unlike some who share
that view) by "improving opportunities for the disadvantaged early
in life." The book as a whole could be called a post-liberal
cost-benefit analysis with a liberal conscience, and it's bound to
be talked about. (Kirkus Reviews)
Victor Fuchs, author of Who Shall Live?, cuts through the hand
wringing and the "pop" panaceas for America's current social crises
in a brilliant analysis of the way we live. The facts are familiar.
A doubled rate of divorce. A birth rate cut nearly in half while
the percentage of illegitimate births nearly tripled. The young
face dismal job prospects, and many of the old are totally
dependent on the federal government. Fuchs's economic approach
shows us that the societal upheaval of American life is not created
by fiat but rather emerges as millions of men and women make
seemingly small choices that are constrained by their
circumstances: "Should I go back to school?" "How many children
should we have?" "When should I retire?" In a masterly synthesis,
he shows the interrelatedness of our choices regarding family,
work, health, and education throughout the life cycle. He uses the
latest facts of American life to explore three major themes-the
fading family, the impact of simple demographics on individual
destiny, and the effect of weighing present and future costs and
benefits on individual choice. Fuchs concludes by offering
innovative solutions to many contemporary problems: social
security, health insurance, child care, youth unemployment, and
illegitimate births. Moving beyond the outworn orthodoxies of
liberalism and conservatism, he offers a clearer view of our
circumstances so that readers from all walks of life can make
better private choices, and contribute to more effective public
policies.
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