Family Inequality

Although an individual's skills are the results of many influences, the family appears to be of paramount importance in affecting the likelihood of individual success. The Family and Human Capital Working Group will focus on the interactions among family members to better understand how the well-being of children and their parents is affected by a variety of public policies. Our analysis will study the impact of laws which make divorce less costly, how tax systems affect spouses' labor supply, whether subsidies to improve parental monitoring are effective, and how the design of pension systems can help partners to coordinate their retirement choices.