Demographics

The Gonzalez family’s immigrant journey from Mexico to California began in the late 1970s with a modest corner market in Anaheim. Today, Northgate Gonzalez Market has evolved into a billion-dollar food retailer that operates 47 stores  read more »

My extended family spans from third to seventh generation Mexican immigrants. Most of us expect to work hard, provide for our families, and hope our children do better than we did.  read more »

In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education declared that “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a nation and a people.”  read more »

From the earliest days of European settlement, Latinos have played a crucial role in the remarkable ascendancy of California. However, as they become the majority of the state’s population, workforce, and students, the trajectory of Latinos is being blocked by policies hostile to traditional middle-class values  read more »

French historian and demographer Emmanuel Todd was the first person to have predicted the fall of the Soviet Union. He noted that, unusually, its infant mortality rate was rising, and that they had even ceased publishing that statistic. Based on this and other data, he concluded that the Soviet Union had entered “the final fall.”  read more »

Over the past decade, I have been affiliated with Columbia University as a professor, collaborator, and, most recently, a visitor. There was often an undercurrent of antisemitism throughout the campus that was overlooked by the Jewish community, but sat just under the surface.  read more »

I came across a couple of interesting pieces in the last week that had me thinking about the past, present and future of American cities again. After reading them, I felt somewhat upbeat and validated, but also concerned.  read more »

Over a decade ago, I led a team of Singapore-based researchers to investigate why families were declining. Back then, we were experiencing a historic shift away from population growth and familial ties, towards individualism.  read more »

Over the six decades that transit subsidies have been virtually universal, governments and media have urged people to give up driving and switch to transit.  read more »

On the last working day before the Holidays the OMB of the White House announced a notice of decision regarding the statistical treatment of race and ethnicity topics in all government statistical programs and analyses. In a revised Statistical Policy Directive 15 it stated: These revisions to SPD 15 are intended to result in more accurate and useful race and ethnicity data across the Federal government. (emphasis mine)  read more »