Kathleen Parker, in a column for The Washington Post, (“To Defeat Poverty, Look to Marriage,” January 14, 2014) points to marriage as a poverty fighting measure.

Others weigh in. Jerry Z. Muller in his article “Capitalism and Inequality; What the Right and the Left Get Wrong” (Foreign Affairs, March/April 2013) writes: “Abundant research shows that children raised by two parents in an ongoing union are more likely to develop the self-discipline and self-confidence that make for success in life . . .” He cites quickness of mind, character, social skills, and knowledge as products of such upbringing. All, Muller says, “are increasingly crucial for success in the postindustrial marketplace.”

Children as emotional capital? Have we returned to a model recently ignored in our modernizing West?

We should not down play measures that improve schools and encourage jobs that pay a living wage. Such programs, however, require political agreement and compromise. Marriage is a personal choice.

The bottom line for those who think in terms of dollars and cents: Successful families strengthen society; dysfunctional families weaken it.