Robert William Fogel"The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700-2100: Europe, America, and the Third World" Copyright 2005 The Population Council, Inc..

Modern civilization is subject to gradual environmental, social, economic, and political transformations as well as to sudden changes that can fundamentally alter its prospects. This article examines a key set of such fatal discontinuities by quantifying the likelihood of three classes of...

<b>George J. Borjas, "Heaven's Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy"</b> Copyright 2000 by The Population Council, Inc..

Carnivorousness is a part of human evolutionary heritage, but typical meat intakes were limited in virtually all preindustrial societies. Rising meat consumption has been a key marker of the universal dietary transition that has accompanied economic modernization. Meat is now the largest source...

Change in modern societies comes both because of sudden, and often catastrophic, events and because of the gradual unfolding of fundamental demographic, social, economic, strategic, and environmental trends. A previous essay by the author assessed the probabilities over the coming five decades...