- Hardcover: 256 pages
- Publisher: Basic Books (Mar 24 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0465050506
- ISBN-13: 978-0465050505
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 14.7 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 499 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #573,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
Product Description
Overpopulation has long been a global concern. But between modern medicine and reduced fertility, world population may in fact be shrinking--and is almost certain to do so by the time today's children retire. The troubling implications for our economy and culture include:* The possibility of a fundamentalist revival due to the decline of secular fertility* The threat to the free market as the supply of workers and consumers declines* The eventual collapse of the American health care system as inordinate expenses are incurred by an aging populationPhillip Longman's uncompromisingly sensible solutions fly in the face of traditional ideas. State intervention is necessary, he argues, to combat the effects of an aging population. We must provide incentives for young families, and we cannot close our eyes and hope for the best as an entire generation approaches retirement age.The Empty Cradle changes the terms of one of the most important environmental, economic, and social debates of our day.
About the Author
Phillip Longman is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and the author of numerous articles and books on demographics and public policy. Formerly a senior writer and editor at US News & World Report, he has written for such publications as The Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, and the Wall Street Journal. He lives in Washington, D.C.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Simply Awful,
By
This review is from: The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do About It (Hardcover)
This book is written with one purpose in mind; to convince the readers that falling birthrates are the biggest disaster to befall mankind since the Black Death. The author continually offers predictions of catastrophe, usually without a shred of research to back them up. Other times, he confuses cause and effect, or employs faulty logic to defend his positions. For example:
- The author claims that in the past, "labor shortages" have led to "slavery, indentured workers, and child labor". The fact that none of these are legal in a civlized society seems to have escaped him. - One of the authors's claims is that since uneducated people tend to have more children than educated ones, unless us educated people have more children to keep up, we will be overrun by the ignorant masses. Apparently the author believes lack of education is a genetic condition. - The author points out that during most of human history, population growth was relatively stagnant, then exploded, supposedly bringing about our more prosperous and enlightened times. However, it is the consensus of the scientific community that the opposite is true; improved medical technology and enhanced prosperity caused the population boom, not the other way around. The book is full of such instances. The author provides relatively few statistics to back up his conclusions, and the few that are offered are cherry-picked to support his thesis. Other stats are out-of-date, such as data concerning the recent hikes in the cost of food. Finally, the book makes no real attempt to confront the very real problems associated with overpopulation - pollution, soil depletion, habitat destruction, food supply. Instead of addressing them, the author simply chooses to override these concerns with increasingly dire predictions of the consequences of negative population growth - which as I've said before, he rarely supports with data. In conclusion, this book reads more like a pro-family propaganda piece than a genuine scientific analysis. This is probably the reason it has received the endorsement of certain religous groups such as Focus on the Family, but if you are looking for a serious scientific discussion of the topic, I highly recommend you give it a pass.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very interesting and insightful,
By
This review is from: The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do About It (Hardcover)
This book is very interesting and insightful. It is very interesting to learn about the conditions that caused the world to have high birth rates in the first place and about the conditions that have caused birth rates to be so low in recent years. It is also good to see that there is a solution to the aging of the world's population, and to learn about the changes that need to be made in order to solve this problem. I really like books that offer solutions to major problems.
5.0 out of 5 stars
what a wonderful book,
By genghis (long beach, califormia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What to Do About It (Hardcover)
so much demographic data, all tied together in a coherent whole.ties together a lot of seemingly distinct theories.
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