Axios

The decline in marriage rates among less-educated Americans has been a trend of concern for both the left and the right in recent years. Progressives have generally seen these data as the result of a lack of economic opportunity, while conservative thinkers have argued the reverse: that economic inequality is being driven by a decline in cultural affinity for the institution of marriage.

A new study published Monday by the National Bureau of Economic Research argues against the first interpretation, showing that between 1997 and 2012, areas that experienced fracking booms — and therefore increased wages and economic opportunity for the less-educated — experienced a spike in birth but not marriage rates.

Why it matters: Though there is some evidence that falling working-class marriage rates were in part caused by shrinking economic opportunity, these results poke a hole in notion that better job opportunities will lead to more marriage.

The global marketplace has made it possible for superstars in music, sports, and even business administration to earn more money than ever before in what economists have labeled a "winner-take-all economy," whereby the best earn outsized rewards while the rest struggle.

New research from economists David Autor and Lawrence Katz suggests that this dynamic is also present in competition between corporations. They write that the rise of "superstar firms" is one cause of the recent decline in the share of corporate profits going to workers rather than shareholders.

Why it matters: Since the 1980s, industry concentration has risen across the developed world, and the growing power of corporations that are dominating their respective industries has enabled them to suppress wages.

Powerful women are a theme in New York magazine's Work Issue:

• Caitlin Flanagan has a long piece on Ivanka Trump, "The People's Princess": "Sometimes, she seems not just essential to his idea of being president; sometimes, she seems the point of his being president. ... [Trump] is Lear — 'All the power of his wits have given way to his impatience' — but Lear with only one relevant daughter, and to her has fallen the task of keeping his terrifying impatience from destroying not just their shared empire but the world itself. He is strangely dependent on her now. And so are we."
• Gabe Sherman, in a piece on the "toxic" workplace culture at Fox News, reveals: "The Murdochs are quietly looking for a new programming executive to run the network. ... James wants to recruit David Rhodes from CBS News (Rhodes is under contract). Rupert is interested in Wall Street Journal editor Gerry Baker, or Rebekah Brooks. One source said Rupert's daughter Elisabeth is also being discussed as a candidate."