When people like Iain Duncan Smith and Jill Kirby call for greater incentives for marriage in the tax and benefit systems, they are mocked by those on the liberal left who say that a bit of extra money each week can't possibly influence such an important decision.
Yet, here's an interesting story in today's Telegraph that suggests that relatively small amounts of money can influence an even bigger decision than marriage: i.e. having a baby. According to research published by the Institute for Fiscal studies increased welfare payments for the poorest families can be linked to an increase in the birthrate of 15%.
Given that the Telegraph article is illustrated with a picture of Karen Matthews we can assume that the IFS study will launch a thousand 'welfare scrounger' stories. The reality, of course, will not be as simple as that. But liberal complacency over the impact of welfare on family structures is equally simplistic and, in the long run, a great deal more damaging.
