Baby Boom or Bust is a mostly chronological, frequently irreverent memoir that crosses six notable decades. Baby boomers were borne of The Silent Generation, a large group of prolific breeders between the baby boomer and Greatest Generation eras. Following World War II, America evolved at seemingly exponential rates in critical areas such as technology, transportation, and infrastructure. The entire kingdom was ultimately handed off to baby boomers whether they were prepared or not. The Silent Generation is most remembered for a strong work ethic and dedication to family, career, and success. Baby boomers were the original slackers, chock full of idealism and rebellion. Almost everything in society changed as they grew up. This story must be told from the twisted perspective of someone who lived through it. Why not me? Someone HAD to write it. This work archives an adventurous, often out-of-the-ordinary childhood in the heartland of America during the 1950s and 1960s, entry into the workforce during the turbulent decade of the 1970s, and ultimately tackles significant (but generally entertaining) career challenges. Boomers like me often risked it all, across the globe and into a new century. Baby boomers are widely known within contexts of what they invented, exploited, or enhanced. It was the generation of sex, drugs and rock & roll. Chapters are segregated into those three general categories, with emphasis on rock & roll. Along the way are colorful and occasionally famous characters, well-known places, and half a century of tawdry escapades. The story is part Forrest Gump and part Private Parts. Many colorful adventures may be unique to the author but are easily relatable to most boomers who grew up during the same decades. That generation turned out to be more pivotal in societal evolution than anyone imagined. A concise, irreverent chronicle of the most important parts of the journey is long overdue.

What caused the baby boom? And, can it be explained within the context of the secular decline in fertility that has occurred over the last 200 years? The hypothesis is that: (i) The secular decline in fertility is due to the relentless rise in real wages that increased the opportunity cost of having children. (ii) The baby boom is explained by an atypical burst of technological progress in the household sector that occurred in the middle of the last century. This lowered the cost of having children. A model is developed in an attempt to account, quantitatively, for both the baby boom and bust.

Look around you and think for a minute: Is America too crowded? For years, we have been warned about the looming danger of overpopulation: people jostling for space on a planet that’s busting at the seams and running out of oil and food and land and everything else. It’s all bunk. The “population bomb” never exploded. Instead, statistics from around the world make clear that since the 1970s, we’ve been facing exactly the opposite problem: people are having too few babies. Population growth has been slowing for two generations. The world’s population will peak, and then begin shrinking, within the next fifty years. In some countries, it’s already started. Japan, for instance, will be half its current size by the end of the century. In Italy, there are already more deaths than births every year. China’s One-Child Policy has left that country without enough women to marry its men, not enough young people to support the country’s elderly, and an impending population contraction that has the ruling class terrified. And all of this is coming to America, too. In fact, it’s already here. Middle-class Americans have their own, informal one-child policy these days. And an alarming number of upscale professionals don’t even go that far—they have dogs, not kids. In fact, if it weren’t for the wave of immigration we experienced over the last thirty years, the United States would be on the verge of shrinking, too. What happened? Everything about modern life—from Bugaboo strollers to insane college tuition to government regulations—has pushed Americans in a single direction, making it harder to have children. And making the people who do still want to have children feel like second-class citizens. What to Expect When No One’s Expecting explains why the population implosion happened and how it is remaking culture, the economy, and politics both at home and around the world. Because if America wants to continue to lead the world, we need to have more babies.

The first statistical biography of a generation that no marketer will want to be without. Today's teenagers are interested in the environment, good jobs, and good times. They also spend $55 billion of their parents' income on clothes, CDs, sports gear and electronics. Teenage "busters" comprise 17% of the U.S. population--a segment larger than seniors.

The baby boom of 1945-65 produced the biggest, richest generation that Britain has ever known. Today, at the peak of their power and wealth, baby boomers now run the country; by virtue of their sheer demographic power, they have fashioned the world around them in a way that meets all of their housing, healthcare, and financial needs. In this original and provocative book, David Willetts shows how the baby boomer generation has attained this position at the expense of their children. Social, cultural, and economic provision has been made for the reigning section of society, whilst the needs of the next generation have taken a back seat. Willetts argues that if our political, economic, and cultural leaders do not begin to discharge their obligations to the future, the young people of today will be taxed more, work longer hours for less money, have lower social mobility, and live in a degraded environment in order to pay for their parents' quality of life. Baby boomers, worried about the kind of world they are passing on to their children, are beginning to take note. However, whilst the imbalance in the quality of life between the generations is becoming more obvious, what is less certain is whether the older generation will be willing to make the sacrifices necessary for a more equal distribution. The Pinch is a landmark account of intergenerational relations in Britain. It is essential reading for parents and policymakers alike.