[evo]

Would it make sense to frame this as a Baumol's Cost Disease problem? E.g., the labor of child rearing has been historically offset by the inherent emotional surplus of the task, but the march of productivity in other sectors gradually increases that imputed loss until we reach a breaking point.

[submain]

I think that's a fair take. We could also frame it as society in the past has carried a lot of the burden of raising kids.

Tribes and communities helped raise kids. That's no longer true in an individualistic and institutionalized society.