Thomas Malthus's LIFE & INFLUENCES
An Essay on the Principle of Population
Thomas Malthus grew up in a country house near Westcott, Surrey. As the sixth of seven children in the family, he received his education at home, and then in the Dissenting Warringtom academy. At age 18, he entered Jesus College, Cambridge and graduated with honours. Two years after he took his master's degree, he was elected a Fellow of Jesus College. In 1797, he took orders and became an Anglican country curate in Surrey a year after.
Malthus was married to his cousin, Harriet. Soon after, he became Professor of History and Political Economy at the East India Company College, or commonly known as Haileybury. His students affectionately nicknamed him "Pop" or "Population Malthus. In 1818, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Thomas Malthus was an influential person in economic, political, social and scientific fields. His first step towards reputation and success was from publishing An Essay on the Principle of Population in 1798.
In the essay, Malthus highlighted the relationship between food supply and population. He criticized William Godwin's idea of limitless improvement for the society because he believed nature's subsistence can never support the overgrowing population. And if the population is not regulated, then famine and disease would become globally epidemic and eventually consume mankind. He saw how America went through a baby boom in the first 25 years since first recognized as a nation, and postulated a growth model that especially illustrated his point. The model depicts how human population increases geometrically (1, 2, 4, 16, etc.) due to the natural urge to reproduce while food supply increases only arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.). Before industrialization and specialization, there was only one kind of human capital. If population increases, the price of labor would decrease. People would have to work a lot more to get what they used to earn. Competition over the same amount of resource would ultimately lead to inflation of food prices and hunger.
To counteract poverty and social distress, society must impose two types of check--the positive and preventive checks. The positive checks include hunger, disease and war, which raise the death rate; the preventive checks include abortion, birth control, postponement of marriage, prostitution, which lower the birth rate. As a clergyman and believer, he proposed that it was God who permitted sufferings and pain. The threat of poverty would motivate people to work harder and strive for improvement. Also, he opposed the poor laws and pointed out that the reliefs and welfare would make the poor lose the ability to work themselves. The number of people qualified to get relief should be reduced to discourage the number of poor from thriving.
Malthus was married to his cousin, Harriet. Soon after, he became Professor of History and Political Economy at the East India Company College, or commonly known as Haileybury. His students affectionately nicknamed him "Pop" or "Population Malthus. In 1818, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Thomas Malthus was an influential person in economic, political, social and scientific fields. His first step towards reputation and success was from publishing An Essay on the Principle of Population in 1798.
In the essay, Malthus highlighted the relationship between food supply and population. He criticized William Godwin's idea of limitless improvement for the society because he believed nature's subsistence can never support the overgrowing population. And if the population is not regulated, then famine and disease would become globally epidemic and eventually consume mankind. He saw how America went through a baby boom in the first 25 years since first recognized as a nation, and postulated a growth model that especially illustrated his point. The model depicts how human population increases geometrically (1, 2, 4, 16, etc.) due to the natural urge to reproduce while food supply increases only arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.). Before industrialization and specialization, there was only one kind of human capital. If population increases, the price of labor would decrease. People would have to work a lot more to get what they used to earn. Competition over the same amount of resource would ultimately lead to inflation of food prices and hunger.
To counteract poverty and social distress, society must impose two types of check--the positive and preventive checks. The positive checks include hunger, disease and war, which raise the death rate; the preventive checks include abortion, birth control, postponement of marriage, prostitution, which lower the birth rate. As a clergyman and believer, he proposed that it was God who permitted sufferings and pain. The threat of poverty would motivate people to work harder and strive for improvement. Also, he opposed the poor laws and pointed out that the reliefs and welfare would make the poor lose the ability to work themselves. The number of people qualified to get relief should be reduced to discourage the number of poor from thriving.
Malthus' theory was opposed by many Utopians and people who didn't know him personally. They called him all sorts of ugly names. Karl Marx was especially antagonistic, destroying Malthus' reputation even further by calling Malthus "superficial", "a professional plagiarist", "the agent of the landed aristocracy", "a paid advocate" and "the principal enemy of the people." Nevertheless, Malthus continued to revise his essay and published five more editions in response to all the criticisms within the next 32 years.
Regardless of all reproach, Malthus's early publications were still well respected by many others. Malthus' position at the Haileybury training college allowed his theories to influence Britain's administration of India. William Peterson, the British Prime Minister during the time, withdrew his Bill on extension of Poor Relief after reading Malthus's work. The same population theory also helped promote Britain's first national population census in 1801. And later in the 1830's, Malthus's writings influenced Whig reforms that helped pass the Poor Law Amendment Act. Other prominent economists who were influenced by Malthus were David Ricardo, Alfred Marshall, William Paley, and Francis Place.
Unexpectedly, the population theory also heavily influenced the works of scientists, such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, in the field of evolutionary biology. To Darwin, the population theory struck him in that favorable variations are tend to be preserved while unfavorable ones tend to be destroyed. And the result of this would be the formation of new species. This idea opened up the way for Darwin to study the origins of species and formulate the now popular theory of natural selection. The idea of Social Darwinism also inspired Herbert Spencer to crown the term "survival of the fittest."
Thomas Malthus was a good man for being unafraid to express himself against oppositions. The ups and downs he faced were deemed worthwhile for all the influences he had on others. Malthus died young at the age of 68, and his tomb was settled in Bath, England.
Regardless of all reproach, Malthus's early publications were still well respected by many others. Malthus' position at the Haileybury training college allowed his theories to influence Britain's administration of India. William Peterson, the British Prime Minister during the time, withdrew his Bill on extension of Poor Relief after reading Malthus's work. The same population theory also helped promote Britain's first national population census in 1801. And later in the 1830's, Malthus's writings influenced Whig reforms that helped pass the Poor Law Amendment Act. Other prominent economists who were influenced by Malthus were David Ricardo, Alfred Marshall, William Paley, and Francis Place.
Unexpectedly, the population theory also heavily influenced the works of scientists, such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, in the field of evolutionary biology. To Darwin, the population theory struck him in that favorable variations are tend to be preserved while unfavorable ones tend to be destroyed. And the result of this would be the formation of new species. This idea opened up the way for Darwin to study the origins of species and formulate the now popular theory of natural selection. The idea of Social Darwinism also inspired Herbert Spencer to crown the term "survival of the fittest."
Thomas Malthus was a good man for being unafraid to express himself against oppositions. The ups and downs he faced were deemed worthwhile for all the influences he had on others. Malthus died young at the age of 68, and his tomb was settled in Bath, England.
Thomas Malthus's
INFLUENCE ON ECONOMICS
Even though Thomas Malths died in an early age, his voice and theory upon economics are lasting until now. Malthus's population theories later heavily influenced John Maynard Keynes, whose Keynesian theory stresses that high unemployment during the Great Depression was caused by overpopulation. What really went wrong at the time was that the amount of supplies didn't match the ever rising demands due to overpopulation.
After the Essay was published in 1798, two pamphlets regarding present high price of provision and observation on the effects of the Corn Laws were issued. On his first published pamphlet, he argued against the notion prevailing in his locale that the greed of intermediaries caused the high price of provision. Thus he opposed the Poor law which was supplying poor people welfare which eventually increase the population of the poors. He thought population shouldn't be increased rapidly while there aren't enough food production. Following the previous idea, on the second pamphlet, he supported the free-traders.
He also contributed to the major concepts of economics such as rent. Basically, his idea was opposite to David Ricardo who published Principles of Political Economy (1817). In the book, he view rent as value in excess of real production; something caused by incident of ownership rather than by fundamental economic value imparted by free and equal trade. Adverse to this concept, Malthus thought rent cannot exist except in the case of surplus. He said that rent becomes consequently a source of capital re-investment, causing positive effects through the growth and accession of productive wealth.
In 1820, he published Principles of Political Economy to rival Ricardo’s Principles. This book was the first text to describe a demand schedule as separate from the quantity demanded at a given price. His work focused on contrasting the long run, as exemplified by population growth, with the short run, reflected by cyclical events such as those affecting agriculture.
To sum up, Malthus’s main work presents a theory of scarcity, but three of his other works present a theory of surplus; The Nature of Rent, Principles of political economy, and Definitions in Political Economy. Principles of Political Economyand Definition in Political Economydefend the concept of the general glut, a theory that surplus value can present a problem.
[Click on documents below to find Malthus's original documents on Observation of Corn Law and the Nature of rent.]
After the Essay was published in 1798, two pamphlets regarding present high price of provision and observation on the effects of the Corn Laws were issued. On his first published pamphlet, he argued against the notion prevailing in his locale that the greed of intermediaries caused the high price of provision. Thus he opposed the Poor law which was supplying poor people welfare which eventually increase the population of the poors. He thought population shouldn't be increased rapidly while there aren't enough food production. Following the previous idea, on the second pamphlet, he supported the free-traders.
He also contributed to the major concepts of economics such as rent. Basically, his idea was opposite to David Ricardo who published Principles of Political Economy (1817). In the book, he view rent as value in excess of real production; something caused by incident of ownership rather than by fundamental economic value imparted by free and equal trade. Adverse to this concept, Malthus thought rent cannot exist except in the case of surplus. He said that rent becomes consequently a source of capital re-investment, causing positive effects through the growth and accession of productive wealth.
In 1820, he published Principles of Political Economy to rival Ricardo’s Principles. This book was the first text to describe a demand schedule as separate from the quantity demanded at a given price. His work focused on contrasting the long run, as exemplified by population growth, with the short run, reflected by cyclical events such as those affecting agriculture.
To sum up, Malthus’s main work presents a theory of scarcity, but three of his other works present a theory of surplus; The Nature of Rent, Principles of political economy, and Definitions in Political Economy. Principles of Political Economyand Definition in Political Economydefend the concept of the general glut, a theory that surplus value can present a problem.
[Click on documents below to find Malthus's original documents on Observation of Corn Law and the Nature of rent.]
the_corn_laws.docx |
the_nature_of_rent.docx |
Surrey, England-where Malthus was born