Name: The Age of Depopulation: Growth, Prosperity, and a Shrinking Population
Start: 1788960600
End: 1788987600
Location: James A. Baker III Hall

Population decline has quietly emerged as one of the defining demographic shifts of the 21st century. While panic of overpopulation dominated much of the last century, many countries are now confronting shrinking populations and the economic, social, and infrastructure challenges that accompany them.

The Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University will host a one-day conference to examine the causes and consequences of declining population trends. Experts will explore topics including demographic statistics, immigration, education, fiscal policy, technology, geopolitics, and infrastructure. The conference will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 9, at the Baker Institute and is free and open to the public, both in person and via livestream. Hosted by the Baker Institute’s Center for Tax and Budget Policy and fellows John Diamond and Bill King, the conference will feature a keynote address by Rob Kaplan, vice chairman of Goldman Sachs and former president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Thank you to the Houston Endowment for its contributions to the Center for Tax and Budget Policy, which made this event possible.

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Agenda

8:30 am	Panel I Dean Spears, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Economics, The University of Texas at Austin; Co-author of "After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People" (Simon & Schuster, 2025) Bill King Fellow in Public Finance, Center for Tax and Budget Policy, Baker Institute for Public Policy
9:30 am	Panel II Wolfgang Lutz Founding Director, Wittgenstein Centre for Demography and Global Human Capital Darrell Bricker, Ph.D. Political Scientist and Commentator; Senior Fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation; Author of "Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline" (Crown, 2019)
10:30 am	Panel III Nicholas Eberstadt, Ph.D. Henry Wendt Chair in Political Economy, American Enterprise Institute David M. Satterfield Director, Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy; Janice and Robert McNair Chair in Public Policy; Former ambassador to Lebanon and Turkey
11:30 am	Break and Lunch
1:00 pm	Panel IV Jeremy Robbins Executive Director, American Immigration Council Helen You, Ph.D. Interim Director (TDC) and Senior Demographer, Texas Demographic Center Dan Potter, Ph.D. Director, Houston Population Research Center at the Kinder Institute for Urban Research
2:00 pm	KeynotePanel IV Rob Kaplan Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs; Former President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas
3:00 pm	Panel V John Diamond, Ph.D. Director, Center for Tax and Budget Policy, Baker Institute for Public Policy Bill King Fellow in Public Finance, Center for Tax and Budget Policy, Baker Institute for Public Policy Michael Geruso, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Economics, The University of Texas at Austin; Co-author of "After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People" (Simon & Schuster, 2025)