Thomas Malthus

From RationalWiki
Jump to: navigation, search
The dismal "science"

Economics

link=:category:
Key concepts

  $ Economics
  $ Capitalism
  $ Communism
  $ Socialism

More about economics
Notable economists
Thomas Malthus, outstripping the increases in your food supply.

The Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) was a British thinker known for his works in economics, demography, and population.

Contents

[edit] An Essay on the Principle of Population

Malthus' best known work is the 1798 book-length work. Essay on the Principle of Population, which has had a far-reaching influence on not only the overpopulation debate, but much social thought of the 19th-21st centuries. The book was actually a specific response to the utopian writings of William Godwin (1756–1836) and the Marquis de Condorcet (1743–1794). It contains what is now called the "Malthusian growth model," in which food supply can grow only at linear rate[1], while population is in principle capable of growing exponentially; therefore, checks must be acting on the population which prevent it achieving its potential growth rate.[2] Malthus described positive checks on population growth, such as war, disease, and starvation; as well as preventive checks, such as delayed marriage, abortion and birth control.

In the book, Malthus also formulated what would later be called "Malthus' Iron Law of Population," which states that growing population would lead to more supply of labor and thus lower wages. On this basis, Malthus argued for the repeal of poor laws and welfare because they would keep the price of food high and encourage further overpopulation and poverty. Instead, he urged "moral restraint": by voluntarily delaying marriage and remaining chaste before marriage, population could be kept within bounds, leading to ample food supplies and higher wages. He also attempted to address the problem of evil, writing that evil was necessary in the world for virtue to exist.

Both Darwin and Wallace credit the ideas of Malthus as one of the important influences leading to the theory of natural selection. He was also fiercely criticized by prominent communists. [3][4]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Footnotes

  1. This, of course, has been falsified numerous times since the Malthus wrote the book. See the Green Revolution for a dramatic example.
  2. Arguably the conclusion has been not been falsified, because population has never grown in a truly exponential fashion. Joel Cohen writes in How Many People Can the Earth Support (p. 84): "Surprisingly, in spite of the abundant data to the contrary, many people believe that human population grows exponentially. It probably never has and probably never will."
  3. Outlines of a Critique of Political Economy, Friedrich Engels Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, 1844
  4. The Working Class and NeoMalthusianism, Lenin Pravda No. 137, June 16, 1913
Personal tools
Namespaces

Variants
Actions
Navigation
Community
Tools
support