The Opinion Piece Of A Well Know Economist.

I answered some questions to an opinion piece of the article that I found on a blog that I read daily. The writters are two well know economists. The article can be found in the link below.

http://uchicagolaw.typepad.com/beckerposner/2010/04/the-effects-on-children-of-the-decline-in-marriage-becker.html

1. How does the op-ed piece introduce the topic?
Becker a well known economist introduced his writing by defining marriage, in the next sentence he stated that marriage is important to nurture children. His thesis is that both parents are needed to educate the offspring.
2. The op-ed piece probably makes only one or two major points. What’s the major point?
The major point is the effect on children when parents divorce although the title says marriage decline.
3. How does the author defend the point? For example, what kind of facts, statistics and quotes does he or she use?
He claims that divorce rates are increasing and that people are now getting married at the age of 27 instead of 23. With his research he found out that children with single parents perform bad in school. He compared three ethnicities the African Americans, Anglos, and Hispanics. This is how the author defended his point.
4. How does the author recommend that the problem be solved?
Becker claims that government must do something to encourage marriage since both parents are essential to educate the child. He thinks that if we pay married people with welfare instead of giving money to single parents. Couples will have the incentive to stay married.
5. How does the op-ed piece conclude?
He closed his opinion piece by saying that government is worried about this issue. That it is crucial that we generate productive children to maintain or improve our country