Thomas Malthus Section Summary

1421 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Overpopulation and environmental degradation

Thomas Malthus Section Summary

Malthus’ work, Essay on the Principle of Population, is often cited, first by Darwin himself, to have influenced Darwin’s conception of the theory of natural selection. His work, though unpopular, and often proven to be off the mark, did in fact bring to the forefront many socio-economic issues that are still being debated today: population control, food production and concerns over uncontrollable diseases arising from the effects of over-population. In this passage it is stated that Malthus was proven wrong: “...Malthus’ dire predictions have proven to be wrong...” (Efficiency and Equity 211). However, though his calculations have proven to be wrong because he could not accurately account for the technological advances that would make food production keep apace of population growth, in many respects, in under-developed or undeveloped countries, the substance of his predictions, if not his calculations, have proven to be accurate. Though Malthus’ message caused the field of economics to be coined, “the dismal science” (Efficiency and Equity 211), he contributed much to the field of socio-economics and established that economic theory is a valid approach to the study of some of the greatest concerns mankind has regarding environmental allocation of resources, population control and governmental policies regulating issues relevant to these areas.

Section Questions

Question One

One of Malthus’ basic premises was that food production levels and population levels expand at different rates. His basic premise was that Britain’s population would continue to expand while its food production capacity would stagnate, or at best, lag far behind. This would result in less supply for more demand and th...

... middle of paper ...

...

Works Cited

Bongaarts, John. "Population Pressure and the Food Supply System in the Developing World." Population and Development Review 22.3 (1996): 483+. Questia. 5 June 2005 .

Caldwell, John C. "Malthus and the Less Developed World: The Pivotal Role of India." Population and Development Review 24.4 (1998): 675+. Questia. 5 June 2005 .

Carter, Tom. "Will World Be Too Crowded to Manage." The Washington Times 7 Feb. 1999: 1. Questia. 5 June 2005 .

Kates, Robert W. "Population, Technology, and the Human Environment: A Thread through Time." Daedalus 125.3 (1996): 43+. Questia. 5 June 2005 .

Wrigley, E.A. "Corn and Crisis: Malthus on the High Price of Provisions." Population and Development Review 25.1 (1999): 121+. Questia. 5 June 2005 .

Show More
Related

  • Objections to the Repugnant Conclusion: David Parfit

    1392 Words  | 3 Pages

    Parfit, Derek (2004). “Overpopulation and the Quality of Life.” In J. Ryberg & T. Tännsjö (eds.), The Repugnant Conclusion. Kluwer Academic Publishers. 7-22.

    Read More

  • The Economic Impacts of the Great Irish Famine

    1777 Words  | 4 Pages

    The analysis of the Irish economic problem, the Great Famine, was a remarkable topic to study by several classical authors such as, Thomas Malthus, John Stuart Mill, David Ricardo or William Senior. A contextualization skim of the economic characteristics of the country is required in order to know about their main ideas with respect to the topic, taking into account the aspects like the land property, the political power and the relation between Ireland and England.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast From Malthusian Stagnation To Modern Growth

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    Oded Galor and David N. Weil’s work, From Malthusian Stagnation to Modern Growth describes three different regimes on society including population, GDP per capita, family, and lifespan. They are the Malthusian model, the Post Malthusian model, and the Modern Growth Era model. The first of these three was the Malthusian model, developed by Malthus in the late 18th century, the Modern Growth is what we have today, and the post Malthusian model is the transition between the two ends of the spectrum.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Garret Hardin's Tragedy Of The Commons

    811 Words  | 2 Pages

    Garret Hardin’s “Tragedy of the Commons” is an article that identifies the nation’s current problems and predicaments that can’t be resolved through the use of technical solutions. Hardin’s work heavily focuses on overpopulation, a prominent and unceasing issue that significantly distorts and affects the stability of the Earth and the abundance of the planet’s resources. In his article, he mentioned some reasonable and important solutions to overpopulation, but he also explained its downside and how the said solutions may not be ideal and practical. “Tragedy of the Commons” revealed that the human population will continue to flourish and how it will be greatly detrimental to our society unless individuals get the education that they need and

    Read More

  • Dead Economists Summary

    1150 Words  | 3 Pages

    Now, the ideas of Thomas Malthus generally do not apply to the world today. It is important to understand that Malthus wanted to create a theory that explained the success of people in a population. Like Darwin’s theory of evolution (which was helped formed by Malthus doctrine) it is survival of the fittest. I do bel...

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Adam Smith, David Ricardo And Thomas Malthus

    1219 Words  | 3 Pages

    Malthus’ An Essay on the Principle of Population, he states “I think I may fairly make two postulata. First, that food is necessary to the existence of man. Secondly, that the passion between the sexes is necessary and will remain nearly in its present state.” He came up with the Population Principle in which he argued that population, when unregulated, increases geometrically, whereas subsistence increases arithmetically. This then becomes an issue when the population outweigh the amount of food available. Malthus then said that once this level was surpassed, that famine would be the main source of the limit to population growth and that premature death was the most natural way to control the

    Read More

  • Lester R. Brown's Full Planet, Empty Plates

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Lester R. Brown's novel Full Planet, Empty Plates, the issue of food scarcity is explained through an environmental perspective. He begins the novel by addressing the issue of the world's high demand for crops, such as grain, and the stress it places on farmers to keep up with the increase in demand. In a time where there is a significant water shortage, higher temperatures, and eroding soils, food scarcity should be at the top of everyone's agenda. Brown poses the question whether or not food scarcity will be our civilization's "weak link" in terms of survival. He demonstrates how food security is a serious issue across the globe. As supply decreases, demand increases, thus raising the price of food. Unlike global resources such as oil,

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Garrett Hardin's The Tragedy Of The Commons

    983 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is a known fact that the world population is increasing without bound; however, there is a debate if this increase is a good thing or if it will prove catastrophic. The article “The Tragedy of the Commons” by Garrett Hardin discusses how the ever-increasing world population will exhaust the world of its natural resources, and eliminate human’s capability of survival. On the other side of the argument is Julian L. Simon who wrote “More People, Greater Wealth, More Resources, Healthier Environment.” This article proposes the theory that with an increase in population, human’s quality of life is amplified. One particular issue that they both mention and have drastically different views on is the future of agriculture and human’s ability to sustain it.

    Read More

  • Sustainability of The Global Food System

    1117 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many problems confronting our global food system. One of them is that the food is not distributed fairly or evenly in the world. According “The Last Bite Is The World’s Food System Collapsing?” by Bee Wilson, “we are producing more food—more grain, more meat, more fruits and vegetables—than ever before, more cheaply than ever before” (Wilson, 2008). Here we are, producing more and more affordable food. However, the World Bank recently announced that thirty-three countries are still famine and hungers as the food price are climbing. Wilson stated, “despite the current food crisis, last year’s worldwide grain harvest was colossal, five per cent above the previous year’s” (Wilson, 2008). This statement support that the food is not distributed evenly. The food production actually increased but people are still in hunger and malnutrition. If the food were evenly distributed, this famine problem would’ve been not a problem. Wilson added, “the food economy has created a system in w...

    Read More

  • Tragedy Of The Commons Analysis

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    ‘The Tragedy of the Commons’ deals with the over growing population and suggests a solution in a unique prospect. Undeniably, science and technology is often suggested as a solution to the problem (by majority of the published journal). However, Hardin believes that there is no technical solution, and would only aggravate to the issue if the universe does not change its attitude/ assumption that there is an ‘actual’ technical solution. Hardin tackled the population problem in a harsh manner; defining the roots of the problem and to his idea of solution. Hardin examined the correlation between the population and resources, then analyzed the key factors that caused the population to swell.

    Read More

  • Growth Of Human Population

    1596 Words  | 4 Pages

    India, the second highest populated country in the world after China, with 1.27 billion people currently recorded to be living there and equates for 17.31% (India Online Pages 2014) of the world's population, but is still considered a developing country due to it’s poverty and illiteracy rates. As these nations continue to grow at rates that are too fast for resources to remain sustainable, the government’s in these areas wi...

    Read More

  • Indus Valley Civilization Essay

    1072 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even though there is such a large food production in India and they are one of the world’s largest food exporters, still so many go hungry. India’s economy has boomed in the past decades, creating an even larger gap between rich and poor.Even though their middle and upper class outnumber their poor, the population is so large that the amount of people below the poverty line is unprecedented. Malnutrition of the poor is India’s largest downfall in the area of food security and nutrition. It is more common for undernutrition to occur in rural areas of India, but it even happens in cities. According to Unicef, out of the 20% of children worldwide that are “wasting” (a person or a part of the body becoming progressively weaker and more emaciated), over one third are Indian citizens. If just regarding children under the age of five years old, 43% are underweight, and 48% (or 61 million children) have stunted growth due to malnutrition. Lack of education is a large contributor to the vast disparity of nutritional security. Children whose mothers have less than 12 years of school education are five times more likely to be

    Read More

  • Essay On Food Insecurity

    1859 Words  | 4 Pages

    Food insecurity and poor nutrition is an alarmingly large problem for low income families, especially in developing countries. Many strategies exist to fight this problem, although not many of these address all the factors contributing to it along with all the possible solutions to solve it. In many cases, multiple strategies must correlate and work together so that all the determinants of this issue are addressed and can fight food insecurity from different angles. This essay will discuss the significance of the problem, a range of possible strategies to solve the problem, and go into detail on a select few that will correlate and work together to solve different factors of food insecurity and poor nutrition.

    Read More

  • Population Growth, Industrialization, and the Environment

    1509 Words  | 4 Pages

    One of the major effects of the huge population increase has been the depletion of natural resources and the destruction of ecosystems. In the 1960's, theorist Paul Ehrlich predicted that, given the skyrocketing figures of human population, the amount of food produced would not grow at a fast enough rate for human survival (Professor Carr Everbach, personal communication). He predicted mass starvation and death by the year 2000 as the result of uncontrolled population growth. Clearly, this did not occur. Ehrlich did not foresee the advancements ma...

    Read More

  • Food Shortages

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the most complex issues in the world today concerns human population. The number of people living off the earth’s resources and stressing its ecosystem has doubled in just forty years. In 1960 there were 3 billion of us; today there are 6 billion. We have no idea what maximum number of people the earth will support. Therefore, the very first question that comes into people’s mind is that are there enough food for all of us in the future? There is no answer for that. Food shortage has become a serious problem among many countries around the world. There are many different reasons why people are starving all over the world. The lack of economic justice and water shortages are just merely two examples out of them all.

    Read More

More about Thomas Malthus Section Summary

Open Document