In Brief.(Review)(Brief Article)

Love and Economics: Why the Laissez-Faire Family Doesn't Work, by Jennifer Roback Morse (Spence, 300 pp., $27.95)

Although libertarianism has great merit as a political and economic philosophy, its effects on the family have been disastrous, argues libertarian economist Jennifer Roback Morse. During the past half- century, both Right and Left have unwittingly collaborated in creating the laissez-faire family. The Right endorsed contractual relationships, emphasizing personal choice. The Left sought to weaken or break community and family ties to remove a competitor to the state. People today are paying a high price-in alarmingly high rates of divorce, illegitimacy, domestic violence, juvenile crime, and other social pathologies. Presenting ample evidence that "the laissez-faire family, in which each member pursues his own self-interest, does not make people very happy," Morse, currently at the Hoover Institution, documents the crucial role the "loving family" plays in developing moral and social capabilities such as trust and cooperation. Because it creates the ...