Businessweek Archives  You Want `Family Values'? They'll Cost
Billions  Social Issues: Commentary   A parent on hand when
children get home from school. Students getting the best
education possible. More police on the beat, fewer drug addicts
on the streets. More individual responsibility, more compassion.
In two words, "family values."  The call to defend "traditional"
values was the centerpiece of the Republican Party's convention,
and it is hard to come out against the family, or better
schools, or safer communities. Maybe, that's why no one in the
GOP camp--or the Democratic one, for that matter--discusses the
costs to our economy of resurrecting a Father Knows Best
lifestyle. The costs involve parents leaving their jobs, less
income to support consumer spending, and shifts in government
resources to train police and address our social woes--changes
in public spending that have never been popular. The reason
family values are so valuable is that they carry a large price
tag.  Perhaps the biggest expense t