The title is Why states with more marriages are richer states. It is thus a statement because the actuality is hardly worth disputing.

According to new research, states with a high concentration of married couples experience faster economic growth, less child poverty and more economic mobility than states where fewer adults are married, even after controlling for a variety of economic and demographic factors. The study, from the conservative American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for Family Studies, also finds that the share of parents who are married in a state is a better predictor of that state’s economic health than the racial composition and educational attainment of the state’s residents.

In this day and age, even just freely choosing to get married puts you into a different caste. As Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit observes, where this was found, Bourgeois values — they’re not just transgressive, they actually work! As he says, “we can hope that saving money, avoiding debt and treating friends and family with consideration are now edgy enough to become trendy.” For me, it remains that a happy marriage is God’s greatest gift. You can then get on with everything else without adolescent distraction.