Keith M. Carlson examines whether this combination of slowing population and rising age composition bodes ill for maintaining a continuing rise in the nation's standard of living into the next century. Using Bureau of Census population projections through 2050, along with historical relationships among population, employment, capital stock, and output, Carlson calculates the growth rates of the capital stock that would be required to achieve certain rates of increase in the standard of living as measured by GNP per capita. He concludes that achieving a rising standard of living like the one we experienced from 1948 to 1989, 1.9 percent growth in GNP per capita, does not appear possible. A rising standard of living in the 1 to 1.5 percent range does appear achievable, however.