The recent debate on trends in inequality in industrial countries has been marred by the lack of consensus about the relevant concept of inequality. Labour economists are concerned with inequality in earnings, macroeconomists with movements in the wage share, while policy-makers tend to focus on...

This study addresses the effect of marital status on economic well-being by comparing the economic situation of never- and ever-married single mother families in the United States, Australia, Canada, and France. The paper presents cross-national, descriptive and analytic data on poverty levels,...