Phillip Longman (born April 21, 1956, Stuttgart,

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

) is a

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

American

demographer Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings. Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as ed ...

. Presently he is a Schwartz Senior Fellow at the

New America Foundation New America, formerly the New America Foundation, is a think tank in the United States founded in 1999. It focuses on a range of public policy issues, including national security studies, technology, asset building, health, gender, energy, educa ...

, and he formerly worked as a senior writer and deputy assistant managing editor at ''U.S. News & World Report''.

Personal life and education

The son of Kenneth and Mary Longman, who worked in Baden-Württemberg as a result of the postwar occupation of that state by the US military, Phillip Longman spent most of his childhood in

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. He studied at Oberlin College and later obtained a Knight-Baghot fellowship at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Phillip Longman was originally married to Robin Longman, but after she died he married Sandy Garbrecht. They have one son, Sam, and reside in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Career

Focusing his attention on how demographic and social change interact and affect government finance, the environment, foreign policy, and the development of society generally, Longman published his first book, ''Born to Pay: The New Politics of Aging in America'' in 1987. In the following decade wrote many articles about the impact of aging populations on society in the future. During this period, his name became much more widely known in the academic community: his articles became published by such journals as ''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Ni ...

'', ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Ma ...

'', '' Foreign Affairs'' and ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

''. In 1997 Longman published his second book ''The Return of Thrift: How the Collapse of the Middle Class Welfare State will Reawaken Values in America'', which argued that people today are spending in an unsustainable manner with the accelerating decline in fertility rates threatening the financial collapse of the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equita ...

throughout the world. By 2000 he had linked with the New America Foundation and began work on his most widely read work, ''The Empty Cradle'' in March 2004. This book expressed his strongly held opinion that

sub-replacement fertility Sub-replacement fertility is a total fertility rate (TFR) that (if sustained) leads to each new generation being less populous than the older, previous one in a given area. The United Nations Population Division defines sub-replacement fertilit ...

and resultant population decline is likely to have catastrophic economic consequences for those nations suffering from it and is also likely to reduce societies' ability to adjust to newly emerging problems because of unwillingness to innovate or take risks. It also examines the present effect of the rapid fall in birth rates around the globe. His research into the history of demographic decline in ancient Greece and Rome led to an article titled ''The Return of Patriarchy'' in the March, 2006 issue of '' Foreign Policy'', and in other journals in an edited form under the title ''The Liberal Baby Bust''. On January 1, 2007, his fourth full-length book was published by PoliPointPress. Titled ''Best Care Anywhere: Why VA Healthcare is Better Than Yours'', it reflects on Longman's loss of his first wife to cancer and aims to show that in fact private health insurance is not superior to public health care as is often presumed. More than 60 peer-reviewed studies, he wrote, show that the quality of V.A. care is comparable to, and in many key areas superior to, that offered by private providers.Room for Debate: Should the Veterans Health Care System be Privatized?
''The New York Times'', June 28, 2016.

Awards

Phillip Longman has won numerous awards for his business and financial writing, including

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

's Gerald Loeb Award, and the top prize for investigative journalism from Investigative Reporters and Editors. * 1995 Gerald Loeb Award for Magazines for "The Politics of Wind"

Books

* ''Born to Pay: The New Politics of Aging in America'' (1987) * ''The Return of Thrift: How the Collapse of the Middle Class Welfare State will Reawaken Values in America'' (1997) * '' The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What To Do About It'' (2004) * ''Best Care Anywhere: Why VA Healthcare is Better Than Yours'' (2007)

References

External links