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After the Spike

The Risks of Global Depopulation and the Case for People

What kind of future do we want?

If we continue as we are, the world’s population will peak within decades and then suddenly, rapidly decline. It is easy to imagine that fewer people would be better, for both the planet and people who remain. After the Spike asks us to think again.

In this deeply reasoned and profoundly empathetic look at our shrinking world, leading population economists Dean Spears and Michael Geruso explain why global depopulation makes it harder to escape poverty, disease and inequality – ultimately leaving us all worse off. Above all, they show how population revival, when grounded in freedom and support, goes hand in hand with a greener, healthier and fairer future for everyone.

Persuasive ... After the Spike knocks down assumptions like skittles … Creating a good life, whether that's finding cures for disease or ways to reverse environmental damage, relies on the ideas, work and progress produced by large, interconnected societies … If there's one thing After the Spike leaves us with, it's the impulse to back ourselves

Guardian

About Dean Spears

Dean Spears and Michael Geruso are economists, demographers and associate professors at the University of Texas at Austin. Spears is a founding executive director of r.i.c.e, a nonprofit that works to promote children’s health, growth and survival in rural India. Geruso served as a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Biden, where he advised on healthcare and population change. Their research on health, population, and climate change has been published in top peer-reviewed journals and featured in publications such as The New York Times, Economist and National Geographic.
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Details
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • ISBN: 9781529939149
  • Length: 320 pages
  • Price: £12.99