That's effectively what we've been doing for the past few decades. And the result is as shown in TFA: a generation of adults who will avoid marriage like the plague, because they've seen how toxic the results can be.
Marriage is not a requirement for pooling resources.
In one extreme instance the parents had divvied up the house with dad ending up in a quasi-finished basement like an unwanted old dog. If they ever crossed paths it was an instant war.
Fortunately divorce has become much more acceptable since those days (this was in the 80s). Back then people would stay trapped in an unhealthy marriage 'til death do us part'.
2013 was still suffering from the after effects of the great recession that caused massive unemployment and a incredible increase in suffering.
How are current economic conditions worse than two of the greatest crashes in US history? YoY inflation is drastically slowing and unemployment is at record lows.
The economy is doing pretty goddamn amazingly right now
My understanding is that economic conditions for Blacks are not significantly better than those of Whites and Asians, and are probably somewhat worse.
Which suggests your hypothesis is not backed by data.
I'll present most of FL as an example. During those crashes, one could still subsist on 2 typical incomes. FF to today and basic expenses have skyrocketed; it takes 4 typical incomes to live tight. Worse is that expenses are still climbing fast.
The economy may be spectacular for some folks but it pales against the expenses faced by most folks.
For many decades, a couple could pool typical wages and meet their basic bills. What I'm see now is it takes 4 typical wages to stay housed, up from 3 last year. Based on the last few months, that hasn't leveled out yet.
A relationship matters if 1 bedroom housing is a necessary part of the plan.
We're talking about marriage, which is a very specific thing with a legal definition.
The study is on marriage, true but the same trends are applying to couples in general - so the same conversation applies there as well. Given the likely causes, there doesn't seem to be a compelling reason to look at marriage in isolation.
As paths to affordable cohabitation decline, relationships are declining right along with them.