This is not a textbook in economics; but because many readers are unaccustomed to looking at problems from an economic point of view, the next section introduces the economic perspective. The six subsequent chapters develop this perspective in the context of the life cycle, a constant of human existence. Institutions may change, empires may rise and fall, and entire civilizations may crumble: but everyone is born, most people mature, wed, and have children, and all eventually die.
The social and economic details of the life cycle vary, however.
In particular, the age at which various transitions take place has changed over time and differs among groups at any given time. Some transitions of great interest are the ages of entering and leaving the labor force, the age of parenthood, and the age of death. In this book the life cycle is divided into six stages: birth and infancy, childhood, adolescence and youth, young adulthood, middle age, and old age. Each chapter identifies major choices for persons of that age, describes long-run trends and cyclical variations, analyzes behavior, and discusses public policy issues. Al-though the approach is similar throughout, the substantive emphasis varies, depending upon which subjects are most salient at different ages-education for the young, for example, or health for the old.