I'm familiar with the broken window fallacy, I just question its applicability here.<p>The broken window fallacy is usually used to highlight the importance of opportunity cost and unintended consequences.  In the parable, the broken window results in some very visible benefits - the glazier has money, his wife has a new dress.  But it's a fallacy because we don't know what the glazier would be doing otherwise.  Perhaps he would've created a beautiful stain glass window, which causes his business to spike up afterwards as his skills increase, which means his wife can afford a series of socialite parties, which bring together people who would never have met, etc.<p>As Retric points out, I think the fallacy is more likely to work in the other direction here.  The benefits of working are very obvious - you get more income, you can afford to buy more things, you live more comfortably.  The opportunity costs are more subtle - perhaps your kid grows up hating you, perhaps they fall in with a bad crowd and start doing drugs, perhaps they never make it over the mathematical hump that prevents them from being a famous physicist.  It's different for every kid, and you won't know for years.<p>Good economists admit that there are things that count that can't be counted, and recognize the limits of their models.