December 12, 2025 7:30 PM at Housatonic Valley Regional High School.

Dr. Dean Spears and Dr. Michael Geruso, co-authors of After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People, will speak about declining birth rates globally due to rising education levels, greater labor force participation by women, strengthened reproductive rights, and wider access to contraception. What are the implications of this demographic change for nations around the world? Dr. Dean Spears is a founding executive director of r.i.c.e, a nonprofit that works to promote children’s health in rural India. Geruso served as a senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers from 2023 to 2024, where he advised on healthcare and population change. Both are economists, demographers, and associate professors at the University of Texas at Austin.