> The simplest thing that we could do would be to subsidize childcare so that the biggest economic hurdle would be addressed.
This seems logical, but to my knowledge there are no successful examples of pro-natalist policies (nordic countries, russia, south korea, etc.).
Some communities in Japan have had success: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45726896
They implemented similar policies to those you quoted above.
Per another comment: https://blog.dol.gov/2024/11/19/new-data-childcare-costs-rem...
Obviously looking for existing patterns of success to validate assumptions is a reasonable ask, but it doesn't mean we couldn't forge new ones with proper diligence.
It would be expensive but an investment in the people that would pay huge dividends. Safeguards from fraud and abuse would be required but these are technical problems and are solvable. The only hurdle is consensus.