An Essay on the Principle of Population

by Thomas Robert Malthus

Overview

The book An Essay on the Principle of Population was first published anonymously in 1798, but the author was soon identified as Thomas Robert Malthus. The book predicted a grim future, as population would increase geometrically, doubling every 25 years, but food production would only grow arithmetically, which would result in famine and starvation, unless births were controlled.

While it was not the first book on population, it was revised for over 28 years and has been acknowledged as the most influential work of its era. Malthus's book fuelled debate about the size of the population in the Kingdom of Great Britain and contributed to the passing of the Census Act 1800. This Act enabled the holding of a national census in England, Wales and Scotland, starting in 1801 and continuing every ten years to the present. The book's 6th edition (1826) was independently cited as a key influence by both Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in developing the theory of natural selection.

A key portion of the book was dedicated to what is now known as Malthus' Iron Law of Population. This name itself is retrospective, based on the iron law of wages, which is the reformulation of Malthus' position by Ferdinand Lassalle, who in turn derived the name from Goethe's "great, eternal iron laws" in Das Göttliche. This theory suggested that growing population rates would contribute to a rising supply of labour that would inevitably lower wages. In essence, Malthus feared that continued population growth would lend itself to poverty and famine.

In 1803, Malthus published, under the same title, a heavily revised second edition of his work. His final version, the 6th edition, was published in 1826. In 1830, 32 years after the first edition, Malthus published a condensed version entitled A Summary View on the Principle of Population, which included responses to criticisms of the larger work. Source: Wikipedia

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781680922592
Publisher:	12th Media Services
Publication date:	01/01/1900
Pages:	100
Sales rank:	926,777
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.38(d)

About the Author

Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) was a British scholar, influential in political economy and demography. Malthus popularized the economic theory of rent. Malthus has become widely known for his theories concerning population and its increase or decrease in response to various factors. The six editions of his An Essay on the Principle of Population, published from 1798 to 1826, observed that sooner or later population gets checked by famine and disease. He wrote in opposition to the popular view in 18th-century Europe that saw society as improving and in principle as perfectible. William Godwin and the Marquis de Condorcet, for example, believed in the possibility of almost limitless improvement of society. So, in a more complex way, did Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose notions centered on the goodness of man and the liberty of citizens bound only by the socia1 contract - a form of popular sovereignty. Malthus thought that the dangers of population growth would preclude endless progress towards a utopian society: "The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man".] As an Anglican clergyman, Malthus saw this situation as divinely imposed to teach virtuous behavior. Malthus placed the longer-term stability of the economy above short-term expediency. He criticized the Poor Laws and (alone among important contemporary economists) supported the Corn Laws, which introduced a system of taxes on British imports of wheat. He thought these measures would encourage domestic production, and so promote long-term benefits. Malthus became hugely influential, and controversial, in economic, political, social and scientific thought. Many of those whom subsequent centuries term evolutionary biologists read him, notably Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, for each of whom Malthusianism became an intellectual stepping-stone to the idea of natural selection. Malthus remains a writer of great significance and controversy.

Table of Contents

Volume II; Book II. Re-written Chapters [1806]: 4. (b) On the fruitfulness of Marriages; 6. (b) Effects of Epidemics on Registers of Births, Deaths and Marriages; Book III. Re-written Chapters [1817]: A. Of the Agricultural System; B. Of the Commercial System; C. Of Systems of Agriculture and Commerce combined; D. Of Corn Laws. Bounties upon Exportation; E. Of Corn Laws. Restrictions upon Importation; F. Of increasing Wealth as it affects the Condition of the Poor; Book IV. Of our future Prospects respecting the Removal or Mitigation of the Evils arising from the Principle of Population: 1. Of moral restraint, and the foundations of our obligation to practise this virtue; 2. Of the Effects which would result to Society from the general practice of this virtue; 3. Of the only effectual mode of improving the condition of the poor; 4. Objections to this mode considered; 5. Of the consequences of pursuing the opposite mode; 6. Effects of the knowledge of the principal cause of poverty on Civil Liberty; 5. Of the consequences of pursuing the opposite mode; 6. Effects of the knowledge of the principal cause of poverty on Civil Liberty; 7. Continuation of the same subject [Added 1817]; 8. Plan of the gradual abolition of the Poor Laws proposed; 9. Of the modes of correcting the prevailing opinions on the subject of Population; 10. Of the direction of our charity; 11. Of the errors in different plans which have been proposed, to improve the condition of the Poor; 12. Continuation of the same subject [Added 1817]; 13. Of the necessity of general principles on this subject; 14. Of our rational expectations respecting the future improvement of Society; Appendices, 1806, 1817; Note 1825.