Boom, bust & echo: How to profit from the coming demographic shift [Hardcover]

Boom, Bust & Echo is a handy and readable take on what comes next in the world of profit and loss. But almost anyone concerned about the future could benefit from the refreshing--if sometimes overly narrow--approach it takes to some of Canada's most pressing problems. -- Maclean's, v.109(33) August 12, 1996

David Foot, a noted Canadian demographer and professor of economics at the University of Toronto, exhibits a talent for explaining difficult concepts in a simplified manner. Boom, Bust and Echo reflects this and is quite easy to understand. This book will be of interest to those who take a long-term view of their company's or even their own future regardless of their function in the workplace. Chapters are topical and cleverly constructed to seamlessly connect an explanation of the past to a prediction of the future. The arguments are solid and well presented--so well, in fact, that the reason for an economic or social phenomenon appears to be obvious. The test of the claim that demographics explains two-thirds of everything will be to see if the author's predictions indeed come true. -- Media, v.3(3), 1996

Seldom is a book published that becomes required reading for just about everyone who has a stake in what Canadians will be doing in the future--business executives, entrepreneurs, policy makers, politicians, planners and educators, not to mention marketers. Boom, Bust & Echo: How to Profit From the Coming Demographic Shift, (Macfarlane Walter and Ross) by economist David K. Foot and journalist Daniel Stoffman, is not only a compilation of consumer, economic and lifestyle trends expected from Canada's aging population, it's a course on the importance of demographics and how the patterns they reveal can be capitalized on by forward-thinkers. -- Marketing Magazine, June 3, 1996

A Canadian Bestseller! Demographics is the key to understanding the past and forecasting the future. From financial planning to urban planning, Professor David Foot shows us how to track the trends that will have a profound impact upon our lives.

The boomers, the busters, and the echo generation: discover the nation's future - and yours - in demographics, the simple but highly potent tool for understanding the past and foretelling the future, by Canada's foremost expert. What are the best investments? Where are the new business opportunities? What will become of our cities? What are the prospects for real estate? The job market? Education? Health care? Foot and Stoffman provide answers in a book full of arresting insights and practical ideas.

Demography - the study of human populations - is the most powerful and most underutilized tool we have to understand the past and to foretell the future. Demographics play a critical role in the nation's economy and social life, and they affect every one of us as individuals. The more we understand demographic realities, the better prepared we will be to cope with them - and to turn them to our advantage.

In Canada, the aging of those born between 1947 and 1966 - the baby boom generation - has changed the economy, driven housing and other markets, and transformed social mores and lifestyles. As the boomers enter mid-life, as the "baby-busters" behind them come of age, and as the "echo generation," the children of the boomers, reaches maturity, how will the country change? Where will Canadians choose to live? What are the prospects for employment? Which investments will be favoured? What lies ahead for Canada's health care and education systems?

Everyone who plans for the future - whether it be for a large corporation, a retail store, a school system, a nonprofit enterprise, or for personal well-being - needs effective forecasting tools. Boom, Bust & Echo goes beyond the traditional methods of focus groups and opinion surveys to an analysis of statistical facts. Here is an original and indispensable work filled with arresting insights, provocative assertions, and practical answers.

Demographics are about everyone: who you are, where you've been, and where you're going. Demographics explain about two-thirds of everything: which products will be in demand, where job opportunities will occur, what school enrolments will be, when house values will rise or drop, what kinds of food people will buy and what kinds of cars they will drive. Boom, Bust & Echo gives you the power to anticipate changes like these and to profit from the coming demographic shift.

David K. Foot is an economist and demographer at the University of Toronto and a much sought-after speaker and consultant to corporations, associations, and governments on the implications of demographics for private and public policy. His academic research has stimulated debate on such issues as marketing, organizational change, human resources management, housing, education, employment, and immigration.

Prof. Foot holds a doctorate in economics from Harvard and is the author of numerous scholarly works and popular articles on the economic and social impact of demographic change. He is a two-time recipient of the University of Toronto undergraduate student teaching award, and in 1992 he received a 3M Award for Teaching Excellence from the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

Daniel Stoffman is a graduate of the University of British Columbia and the London School of Economics. He is an award-winning journalist who has written on business, politics, and social issues for Canada's major magazines, including Report on Business, Canadian Business, Saturday Night, Toronto Life, and Canadian Living. In 1991 he was granted an Atkinson Fellowship to pursue research in the area of Canadian immigration policy; the result was a widely publicized study of current government practices and recommendations for their reform, Toward a More Realistic Immigration Policy for Canada (1993).