Jennifer Graham reviews a book on First Things here.
A piece that jumps out (emphasis mine):
Cultural norms are fluid and malleable, but in a capitalist society they tend to flow away from traditional family life and toward the accumulation of ever more stuff. “The triumph of materialism in modern times feeds the market and leaves childrearing and family life undernourished,” Gilbert writes. “The capitalist ethos underrates the economic value and social utility of domestic labor in family life, particularly during the early years of childhood.”
The “psychic income” that a woman might derive from caring for young children at home is not as tangible as a biweekly direct deposit at her bank. And, according to “prospect theory,” human beings tend to choose a path with a guaranteed outcome over one with potentially greater rewards but a certain amount of risk. Furthermore, while the birth of a child was once considered economic progress for a family, particularly one with a few acres of tobacco to harvest, children now fare poorly on a cost-benefit spreadsheet where psychic income does not count. Modern parenting demands “voluntary sacrifice and altruistic behavior,” not to mention the $153,600 it is estimated to cost to bring up a child today.