Population growth slowed across the world in the last decades of the 20th century, changing substantially our view of the future. The 21st century is likely to see the end to world population growth and become the century of population aging, marked by low fertility and ever-increasing life expectancy. These trends have prompted many to predict a gloomy future caused by an unprecedented economic burden of population aging. In response, industrialized nations will need to implement effective social and economic policies and programs.

This is the final volume in a series of three. The papers included explore many examples and strengthen the basis for effective economic and social policies by investigating the economic, social, and demographic consequences of the transformations in the structures of population and family. These consequences include changes in economic behavior, both in labor and financial markets, and with regard to saving and consumption, and intergenerational transfers of money and care.

Population growth slowed across the world in the last decades of the 20th century, changing substantially our view of the future. The 21st century is likely to see the end to world population growth and become the century of population aging, marked by low fertility and ever-increasing life expectancy. These trends have prompted many to predict a gloomy future caused by an unprecedented economic burden of population aging. In response, industrialized nations will need to implement effective social and economic policies and programs. This is the final volume in a series of three. The papers included explore many examples and strengthen the basis for effective economic and social policies by investigating the economic, social, and demographic consequences of the transformations in the structures of population and family. These consequences include changes in economic behavior, both in labor and financial markets, and with regard to saving and consumption, and intergenerational transfers of money and care.

This volume in the International Studies in Demography series analyses the changing patterns of family formation over the last twenty years. The analysis is set in the context of the demographic transition: the falling birth rates and ageing population of the industrialized countries. The contributors examine the changes in economic behaviour, the implications of demographic patterns for governmental policies and the effects these demographic patterns have on the availability of labour. The distinguished editors have succeeded in merging both economic and demographic analysis into a coherent whole, and this volume will be invaluable for academics and graduate students of both disciplines, who are interested in understanding the phenomenon of ageing societies. One strength of this book is the amount of data and analysis included on Japan and the Western world. The volume is divided into two parts, the former exploring the effects of economic considerations on family formation, while the latter deals with the impact of demographic patterns on economic behaviour, and especially with the distribution of economic resources as a smaller working population supports a growing number of the elderly. Subjects dealt with include the correlation between levels of cohabitation and personal economic resources; a model of the changes in optimal timing of childbearing in Britain using the earnings profile of the mothers; an exploration of how the changing age of marriage mitigates changes in population size; and the transfer of resources between generations.

Though the world's population continues to grow, total fertility rates are dropping below replacement level in many parts of the world. The Baby Bust, a landmark book of essays by demographic, economic, and political science experts, examines the global 'birth dearth' and its causes, implications, and policy options. Focusing in large part on the United States, this book also includes data from Europe and Japan and makes important comparisons between the three regions. It concludes with suggestions for making America's future sound and prosperous, through the regularization and legalization of appropriate levels of immigration; enhancing governmental efforts to increase productivity; and finally, ending the present waste of so many underutilized members of the workforce, particularly minorities and the poor.