ABSTRACT
There is a substantial probability that the United States is approaching the end of its era of population growth. Furthermore, an important sector of professional and public opinion is advocating that federal and state governments take actions designed to ensure or hasten that process. This article is concerned with the demographic characteristics of zero population growth (ZPG) in the United States, and with their economic and social implications. Although no explicit attention is devoted to the question of zero economic growth, there are various evident analogies between the economic and the demographic systems of variables. Perhaps an examination of the simpler properties of the demographic system can suggest fruitful ways of considering the more complex properties of the economic system.
