After the Spike

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 *If you think that the world’s population isn’t going to fall, or that it will be easy to halt its fall, or that a falling population is a good thing, you really should read it * New Scientist *We should welcome After the Spike. It is a brisk and accessible outline of the basic facts of the demographic precipice on the edge of which mankind currently stands * Literary Review *After the Spike provides a clear and comprehensively argued overview of why birth rates are so low, and why most government interventions have failed to raise them * Observer *A punchy read * Sunday Times *With stunning clarity, Spears and Geruso show why our assumptions about population, progress and prosperity are leading us astray. If you want to understand where humanity is going, and why that matters, this book is essential reading – Daniel H. Pink, author of DriveFascinating, thoughtful and timely. In ten years, everyone will be talking about global demographic decline and what to do about it – Simon Johnson, Nobel Laureate in EconomicsSpears and Geruso take us by the hand to understand the most dramatic period of human history – and what could happen next. The insights and rigour – which come thick and fast – are matched by human and empathetic narrative throughout – Hannah Ritchie, author of Not the End of the WorldSpears and Geruso meticulously take apart all the myths and confusion surrounding the incoming demographic changes for our species. I had my mind blown over and over and over – Zach Weinersmith, co-author of A City on MarsA remarkable blend of empirical research and philosophical argument that has challenged, and changed, my thinking about population – Peter Singer, author of Animal Liberation

Dean Spears

Dean Spears is an economist, demographer, and associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He is also a founding executive director of r.i.c.e., a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving children’s health, growth, and survival in rural India.

Michael Geruso

Michael Geruso is an economist, demographer, and associate professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He previously served as a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Biden, where he provided expertise on healthcare and population change.

Both Dean Spears and Michael Geruso’s research on health, population, and climate change has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals and has been featured in prominent publications such as The New York Times, The Economist, and National Geographic.

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