English scholar, influential in political economy and demography
1766 CE
to 1834 CE
The Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus FRS (13 or 14 February 1766 – 23 or 29 December 1834) is an English scholar, influential in political economy and demography.
Malthus popularizes the economic theory of rent.
Malthus has become widely known for his theories about 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, observes that sooner or later population gets checked by famine and disease.
He writes in opposition to the popular view in 18th-century Europe that sees society as improving and in principle as perfectible.
William Godwin and the Marquis de Condorcet, for example, believe in the possibility of almost limitless improvement of society.
In a more complex way, so did Jean-Jacques Rousseau, whose notions centered on the goodness of man and the liberty of citizens bound only by the social contract—a form of popular sovereignty.
Malthus thinks that the dangers of population growth will 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 sees this situation as divinely imposed to teach virtuous behavior.
Malthus places the longer-term stability of the economy above short-term expediency.
He criticizes the Poor Laws, and (alone among important contemporary economists) supports the Corn Laws, which introduce a system of taxes on British imports of wheat.
He thinks these measures will encourage domestic production, and so promote long-term benefits.
Malthus becomes 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.
