For the record.

The baby boom. A tired phrase? Perhaps. Coined to describe the post-World War II generation, it engenders many images, The pig in the python is one of my favorites, conveying the remarkable visibility of that generation. The sheer size of the boomers, a generation born between the generally accepted definitional years of 1947 and 1964 has had enormous social and economic impact on America.

The baby boom is quickly becoming a "senior boom." as seen in Indiana's population projections just released by the IBRC. These projections are so important, showing the age structure of our population in all counties and regions of the state, that we share two articles on the subject in this issue, The first was written by IBRC demographer, John Besl, who produced the projections and provides a thoughtful overview of the findings. The other is by Morton Marcus, economist and pundit, who does not shrink from spelling out the Implications--both good and bad--of what our future age structure will mean for Hoosiers.

And don't neglect to read our last, but not least, article on a recently released study by the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy on the nature and impact of nonprofit organizations on Indiana's economy. This important work is part of a national initiative to investigate the nonprofit industry in each state. Indiana is one of only a handful of states for which this industry has been studied in a rigorous and thorough manner, thanks particularly to Dr. Kirsten Gronbjerg.