"For much of its history, human population growth increased at a glacial pace. The demographic rate only soared about 200 years ago, climaxing in the period 1950-2000. In that 50-year span, the population grew more than it had in the previous 5000 years. Though these raw numbers are impressive,...

Economic policies rely on demographic projections. Yet in making these projections, researchers often ignore the aspect of household formation - despite sustained trends in many industrialized countries towards smaller household units with fewer members. Over the long term, this trend is likely...

Acknowledgments -- Lessons from demography -- Introduction -- "The wonderful, terrible, inscrutable economy" -- Historical change, economic behavior, and demographics -- The demographic portrait -- Generation X and the effects of population change -- What this portrait tells us -- Implications...