The Economics of the Transition to Adulthood

Today, young adults find that financial obstacles, like the increasing costs of higher education and housing, are making it more difficult for them to achieve the traditional benchmarks of adulthood, like homeownership. What prevents young adults from living out the middle-class dreams of their parents? With funding from the Foundation, Sheldon Danziger and Cecilia Rouse will edit a book examining the way economic factors are now working to constrain and shape the transition to adulthood. The book will tackle many facets of the economic lives of young people, such as whether the increased availability of credit to young adults is opening up opportunities for them or saddling them with burdens they cannot handle, the role of living costs in young adults’ decisions to move out of their parents’ home, and job stability among young workers.