Betsey Stevenson, a member of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, will offer a plenary speech during the June 23 White House Summit on Working Families in Washington, DC. Her topic: A 21st century economy that works for businesses and workers. The summit is expected to receive broad media attention, and early features ran today in The New Republic and Washington Post.
"I'm insanely jealous of Sweden's work-family policies; you should be, too," the New Republic feature by senior editor Jonathan Cohn, focuses on the costs and benefits of family-friendly policies like paid-leave and subsidized child care. "Policies that allow parents to spend more time with young children and get better day care have clear, quantifiable costs," writes Cohn. "They also have clear, quantifiable benefits—not just in the form of better child and maternal health, but also in the form of better retention and possibly higher productivity."
Cohn quotes Stevenson, who made this case at the Urban Institute recently: "Evidence from other countries and states that have adopted paid leave policies suggests that parental leave boosts female employment and helps increase subsequent earnings."
The Washington Post feature "Child-care issues move to political forefront as both parties
position for midterms," by reporters Zachary Goldfarb and Juliet Eilperin, highlights the attention democrats and republicans are paying to child-care issues in advance of midterm elections.
Betsey Stevenson is an associate professor of public policy at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. She is on leave to serve as a member of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.