Jacob S. Siegel, Applied Demography: Applications to Jacob S. Siegel, Applied Demography: Applications to Business, Government, Law and Public Policy. San Diego: Business, Government, Law and Public Policy. San Diego:

Academic Press. 2002. 686 pp.Academic Press. 2002. 686 pp.

The recent years have seen significant changes to the emphases and structures of Australian universities. In particular,

disciplines with clearly defined career paths, especially the various branches of business studies, have grown rapidly in their

number of staff, the number of courses they offer, and the number of students they serve. In this changed context there is

a need for university demography disciplines to reassess the relevance of their units to the study programs and career

directions of the students who elect to enrol in their course, and to change the emphasis of their programs accordingly.

Against this background, the arrival of a demographic textbook which is distinctive in its degree of focus on 'real world' uses of

demography is most welcome. The selection of methods for inclusion clearly has been guided with a view towards equipping the reader for 'real work'. Pragmatic priorities would appear to underlie the extent of its coverage of the sources of data, both demographic and non-demographic, that may be useful in such

applications, and of their limitations. The practical value of such demographic tools and resources is illustrated with a

wonderfully varied range of examples, drawn from the business, government and non-profit sectors.

According to the preface, Applied Demography is intended for use as a textbook by advanced undergraduates and

postgraduates and as a reference handbook for demographic practitioners. Certainly some prior knowledge of the elements of

demography would be advantageous for the reader. A sound grasp of basic mathematics and statistics also is assumed. A few sections of the book refer to statistical techniques which in my

experience are taught only at more advanced levels.

This is clearly a book designed with the American market in mind, since the examples of demographic trends and

applications almost invariably relate to the United States, with passing mentions of examples from other countries relegated to

appendices. Educators using this text to teach students from other countries will face a need to make clear the distinctions between their countries' demographic trends, sources of data, geographic area classification, governmental and legal systems

and those of the United States, and the implications of those differences. Viewed from an Australian perspective, the

attention devoted to the role of demography in litigation, especially litigation related to racial equality, is striking.

Chapter 1 rather wades through the definition of 'applied demography' before briefly, to my mind too briefly to serve as a

useful reference, sketching some of the more important methods that would be covered in an introduction to technical demography. In Chapter 2 a concise account of recent

demographic trends in the United States is followed, before one has the time to think 'so what?', by a discussion of their

consequences for the provision of education, housing, transport and federal tax collection. The chapter concludes with a brief

discussion of the limitations of demographic determinism.

Chapter 3 describes the basic sources of demographic data, classified by collection agency. A potentially dry topic is

enlivened with accounts of the continuing controversies relating to adjustment for underenumeration and the classification of

race and Hispanic origin in the United States, and a discussion of the uses of record linkage. The extensive list of the website

addresses for collection agencies and displays of demographic data, presented in Appendix A, would be a most useful

compilation were it not for a significant number of the addresses being either out of date or not functioning. Chapter 4 discusses

the sources of error in census and survey data.

Chapter 5 covers the classification, retrieval and analysis of geographically defined demographic data. Whilst the analysis of the spatial distribution of demographic data is undoubtedly of

major importance in applied demography, the lack of international standardization of geodemographic classification

limits the applicability of much of the material in this chapter to other national contexts.

Chapters 6, 7 and 8, which address the applications of demography to business, government and nonprofit

organizations, most clearly distinguish Applied Demography from other demographic textbooks. Chapter 6 focuses on the

role of demography in the strategic planning of business expansion and contraction. Since most demography graduates will seek work in the private sector, this is arguably the most

important chapter. Siegel's eye for the practical considerations is evident in his inclusion of a section on the methods of

measuring the characteristics of customers. The next section provides a range of examples of the use of demographic variables in the definition of market segments and target

markets, and discusses the demographic and non-demographic factors affecting business location. The inclusion of a section on the use of multiple regression in the analysis of the profitability of business establishments is a particularly pleasant surprise, because too many of the existing demographic textbooks omit coverag e of this essential element of empirical research. That said, since the fairly detailed coverage of small-area estimation

methods and projections in Chapters 9 to 11 also have clear relevance to it, I think this section (along with sections of

Chapter 7) could have been better placed later in the book. The final section of this chapter discusses the application of

standard demographic techniques to the analysis of consumer behaviour and the durability of manufactured goods. Chapter 7,

which covers the uses of demography by government and nonprofit organizations, devotes much attention to the use of

measures of race and Hispanic origin, socio-economic disadvantage, and life tables in the analysis of service and

facility provision. Chapter 8 deals at length (79 pages) with the demography of labour forces, making extensive use of formal

demographic techniques.

Chapters 9 and 10 cover estimates and projections of the population by age, sex and race, paying particular attention to

the subnational level. Chapter 11 focuses on estimates and projections of households, labour force, school enrolment,

educational attainment and health. All three chapters discuss a wide range of methods and include lengthy sections on the

evaluation of accuracy and utility. Whilst these chapters offer an authoritative coverage of the topics which would be useful for specialized statistical demographers, I fear some sections may

prove too technical to be accessible to students without a strong statistical and mathematical background.

Chapters 12 and 13 address the interface between demography and democracy. Chapter 12 focuses on the demographic basis

for the apportionment of the US Congress, state legislatures and local councils, and the use of demographic data in the allocation of public funds. Chapter 13 discusses some of the implications of

demographic trends for America's public debate. Issues highlighted include the economic effects of immigration; the

legitimacy of sex differentials in the premiums and benefits of insurance and retirement programs; the implications of age-structure changes for the solvency of the US Social Security

program; the allocation of public funds between children and the elderly; and the costs of health care provision.

Chapter 14, which discusses the application of demographic-like methods to the analysis of organizational populations, for example to counts of business units or schools, provides

additional examples to those in the final section of Chapter 6 of the wider transferability of demographic skills.

All chapters are backed up with extensive lists of suggested readings, which are helpfully classified by section heading. A brief epilogue muses on the nature of applied demography,

before pointing the reader to lists of professional

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