Vanishing Data about Marriage and Divorce Rates

The Census Bureau has proposed a plan to essentially eliminate the collection of marriage and divorce data.  Academics and economists are concerned that this change in the questions asked and information gathered will lead to a lack of information about whether divorce rates are rising or falling, and how American families are changing.  If we don’t have a grasp on changing social trends, how will we effectively shape policies to help American families?  Justin Wolfers, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan outlined his concerns about the data change in the New York Times.