Economics: Today and Tomorrow © 2012

"Grandboomers Spend Billions"

Introduction
In this chapter, you learned that demand is influenced by changes in the population. This activity will take a look at how a changing population—boomers becoming grandparents—impacts demand. According to the Grandparent Marketing Group, "grandboomers" spend more than $50 billion dollars each year on their grand children. Assume you work for a manufacturer of electronic toys and games. You want to target this emerging market, which supposedly gains an astonishing 3 million prospects each year, but you want to verify these projections. Visit the U.S. Census Bureau's Website to view population projections.

Destination Title: U.S. Census Bureau Population Projections

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Directions
Start at the Census Bureau Web site.

• Look for the National Population Projections and click on the "National" tab.
• Click on table 2a in the appropriate format for your computer. Table 2a provides a projection of the total resident population in 10-year increments by age and sex.

1			How many people are included in the age range from 45-64 for the year closest to the current year on the table?
2			How many people will be in the 45-64 range ten years from now?
3			What percentage of the total population will this age group be ten years from now?
4			What trends in grandparents' spending do you think will continue?
5			Based on what you have learned from the Census Bureau, write a short report to the president of your company making a recommendation for target advertising to the grandparent market.