Far from just the tax break, young people need the courage to have children. There are many sources for this boost, not the least of which is monetary.

Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Matthew Hennessey argues to the contrary, that explicit financial incentive precludes real change in fertility. “One thing’s for certain,” he writes: “Tax policy has nothing to do with it.” The solution is in the culture, “in families and churches, not Congress.” Global fertility rates remain low in the face of generous child tax credits and baby bonuses, so why center U.S. family policy around them? As for pronatalists, generally: “Their motives are pure. It’ll never work.”