Thomas Malthus: Theory of Population

Thomas Robert Malthus is a major researcher of economic science in England. His works were published in the early XIX century, and caused a lot of controversy in the scientific community. However, to some extent his views have not lost their relevance to this day.

The beginning of Malthusian studies

Thomas Robert Malthus was born in a wealthy family of a landowner near London. His father was a very intelligent and educated man, who communicated with many philosophers and economists of his time. Since Thomas was the youngest child in the family, by tradition he had to enter the path of a spiritual career. After graduating from college at the University of Cambridge, he takes a priesthood and becomes a local priest.

Despite this, Thomas Malthus, who has always been indifferent to scientific research, begins to work as a teacher at the same time. Almost all of his leisure he spends in conversations with his father, who are dedicated to the relationship of natural conditions and the economy.

What did Malthus study?

Like other researchers of the past in the field of economics, Malthus saw the mechanisms of increasing wealth, ways of developing material production. He is trying to connect the issues of economics and population growth among themselves.

The population law of Thomas Malthus became the basis for the works of such scientists as Charles Darwin, D. Ricardo and others. The concept itself was later described by Malthus in his book. The main idea of his theory is that the amount of population has a direct impact on the welfare of society.

The number of Homo Sapiens, says Malthus, began to grow only about 8 thousand years ago, when hunting and gathering replaced a settled way of life. At that time on the whole earth there are about 10 million people. Then the population of the globe begins to grow rapidly. Already in 1820 this figure reaches one billion people. By 1959, the number of inhabitants of the Earth was already about three billion. Only after 13 years was born five billion people.

Brief formulation of the concept

The law of Thomas Malthus states that the instinct that exists in all living beings causes them to multiply rapidly - faster than this can be tolerated by the amount of food and material goods available to society. The consequences of this law are devoted to his work.

Malthus notes that, despite instinctive motives, a person's voice also works. After all, maybe he will not be able to feed all his children. If a person listens to this rational grain, then, as Thomas Malthus puts it, it will happen "to the detriment of virtue." If he hears the voice of instinct and breeds offspring - the population will grow faster than it is allowed by available means, and, therefore, will begin to decrease. The scientist notes that the lack of food should regulate the number of people.

The first book, which was released by Thomas Malthus, was anonymous. She saw the light in 1798, and caused a lot of criticism and attacks. In order to improve his work, Malthus goes on a trip to the cities of Europe. After five years, he again releases this edition - but already under his own name. In total, during the life of Malthus, his book was published five times, and each time the circulation was ever greater.

Simplicity of Malthusianism

His concepts received great resonance already for the simple reason that they did not require the processing of complex facts or the comparison of theories. All that has been done by Malthus is to observe the realities of life. His conclusions seemed obvious: is not it true that a person can reproduce only in so far as he is able to feed his offspring? Thomas Malthus noted that population growth is usually expressed in a geometric progression, while an increase in economic benefits is in arithmetical progression .

Malthus identified the resources for subsistence with food. According to the logic of his era, it was not possible to rapidly increase production capacity. After all, the improvement of technology was still going on too slowly, and natural wealth was always limited.

Cons of theory

At the same time, Malthus was sure that, even under capitalism, capital growth could not at all times compensate for the decreasing coefficient of soil fertility. Fear of hunger is the only condition that restrains a person from uncontrolled reproduction, Thomas Malthus believes. The theory of population at the same time had many shortcomings and mutually exclusive points. For example, the researcher considered the contraceptives "immoral", and called them "unacceptable under any circumstances". Many scientists believe that the statistical computations of his theory could not withstand any collision with the empirical indicators of those times.

Theory of Malthus in our days

It is believed that the concept of Thomas Malthus can be useful for overall development. However, to solve acute social problems, unfortunately, it is almost useless. According to modern researchers, the problem of overpopulation today is not to remove the gap between the actual and optimal population. The necessary steps in social policy should concern the adjustment of the trajectory of the birth rate. In addition, modern research shows that population growth is a necessary condition for the growth of material wealth.