I can't pretend to be an expert in the economics of family leave, but my cursory Google search turned up articles claiming that maternity leave helps the economy, as well as articles saying the exact opposite. I don't know if one or the other has more veracity. However, this is kind of my point about better and worse. Even in the case where parental leave might cause short term negatives effects in the economy, I would still argue it's a good thing for two reasons. 1) I believe that it's just the good ole' plain moral thing to do (not a great argument, for sure). And 2) I think that there is plenty of evidence that the way a child is treated in its earliest years can affect its ability to succeed in the world much later in life (just yesterday, for example, it was all over the news that we should be reading aloud to newborns). Therefore, I find it highly probable that the net effects to the economy will be positive in the very long term, so long as we assume that smarter children will grow up to be more creative and productive adults (certainly a leap of faith). But, in the end I suppose that point 2 is just rationalizing for point 1.