In a commentary, SMU Dean of the School of Economics and Lee Kong Chian Professor of Economics Li Jia argued that the Government’s new child support scheme should be assessed by the constraints it removes rather than the cash it provides. He noted that while parents bear most of the private cost of raising a child, society shares much of the eventual benefit. By fully funding childcare leave, the Government removes a key reason employers may view parents – especially mothers – as more costly to employ, addressing the career penalty at its source. Prof Li cautioned that the package alone is unlikely to restore the fertility rate to replacement level and should not be judged by whether births rise next year. Instead, sharing more of the cost should be seen as both family and economic policy – a long-term national investment whose returns will take a generation to emerge.