Thomas Robert Malthus facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Thomas Robert Malthus FRS
Malthus in 1834
Born	13/14 February 1766 Westcott, Surrey, England
Died	29 December 1834(1834-12-29) (aged 68) Bath, Somerset, England
Spouse(s)	Harriet Eckersall ​ (m. 1804)​
Field	Demography macroeconomics
School or tradition	Classical economics
Alma mater	Jesus College, Cambridge (MA)
Influences	David Ricardo William Godwin Adam Smith David Hume Edward Gibbon Voltaire Jean-Jaques Rousseau Jean Charles Léonard de Sismondi
Contributions	Malthusian growth model

Thomas Robert Malthus (born February 13 or 14, 1766 – died December 29, 1834) was an important English thinker. He was a cleric (a church official), a scholar, and an influential economist. He studied how countries manage their money and resources (called political economy) and how populations change (called demography).

In his famous 1798 book, An Essay on the Principle of Population, Malthus noticed something interesting. When a country produced more food, people's lives got better for a short time. But this improvement usually led to the population growing bigger. Soon, there were more people, and the amount of food per person went back to the original low level.

Malthus believed that humans tend to use extra resources to have more children, instead of keeping a high standard of living. This idea is known as the "Malthusian trap." He thought that populations would keep growing until the poorest people faced difficulties, hunger, and were more likely to suffer from war, famine, and disease. This somewhat gloomy idea is sometimes called a "Malthusian catastrophe." Malthus wrote this because many people in the 1700s believed that society was always getting better and could become perfect.

Malthus felt that population growth was unavoidable when conditions improved. This meant that a perfect society (a utopia) could never truly happen. He famously wrote, "The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man." As a churchman, he saw this as a way for God to teach people to be good. Malthus also stated that "the increase of population is necessarily limited by subsistence" (food and resources). He added that "population does invariably increase when the means of subsistence increase," and that this growth is only stopped by "moral restraint, vice, and misery."

Malthus was critical of the English Poor Laws, which were laws meant to help the poor. He thought they caused prices to rise instead of truly helping people. He also supported taxes on imported grain, known as the Corn Laws. His ideas greatly influenced thinking in economics, politics, society, and science. Famous scientists like Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, who developed the theory of evolution, read his work. One common criticism of Malthus's theories is that he didn't predict the Industrial Revolution, which changed how much food and goods could be produced.

Malthus's work created the main ideas that have shaped discussions about global hunger and famines for nearly 200 years. He is still a much-discussed writer today.

Early Life and Education

Thomas Robert Malthus was one of seven children born to Daniel Malthus and Henrietta Catherine. His family had a history of working for the royal family as apothecaries (like pharmacists). Thomas was born in Westcott, Surrey, England. His family later moved to Albury.

Malthus was born with a cleft lip and palate, which affected his speech. This birth defect had appeared in his family before. Despite this, his friend, Harriet Martineau, who had trouble hearing, said that his voice was so clear and deep that he was the only person she could hear well without her special ear trumpet.

Malthus went to Warrington Academy in 1782. After it closed, he continued to be taught by his tutor, Gilbert Wakefield, at home.

In 1784, Malthus started studying at Jesus College, Cambridge. He won awards for his speeches in English, Latin, and Greek. He graduated with high honors in mathematics in 1788. He earned his Master of Arts degree in 1791 and became a Fellow of Jesus College two years later. In 1789, he became a priest in the Church of England and worked as a curate in Surrey.

Understanding Population Growth

Essay on the principle of population, 1826

Malthus became well-known after publishing his book, An Essay on the Principle of Population, in 1798. He wrote this book because his father and his father's friends were very hopeful about society's future. Malthus wanted to challenge their optimistic views, especially those of William Godwin and the Marquis de Condorcet.

His ideas caused a lot of discussion and debate. Between 1798 and 1826, he published six more versions of his Essay. He updated each one with new information, responded to criticisms, and shared how his own thoughts on the subject had changed.

The main idea of Malthus's theory is to explain how population and food production grow. He believed that food production grows slowly, like adding the same amount each time (arithmetic growth). But population grows much faster, like doubling each time (exponential growth).

However, Malthus's theory has some limitations today:

• It didn't consider how much technology would advance. New technologies, like genetically modified organisms (GMOs), have greatly increased food production.
• His mathematical model was based only on England's situation. In other places, like Australia, food production has sometimes grown faster than the population.
• The theory doesn't fully account for social changes. People often choose to have smaller families because of economic reasons.
• The Industrial Revolution allowed food production to increase much faster than Malthus expected.
• The theory suggests that wealthier countries will have more solutions for growing populations, which is often true.
• A growing population can also mean more people to help produce food, which Malthus didn't fully explore.
• His theory assumed that resources would always lead to less and less return over time.
• Malthus didn't clearly determine if birth rates matched death rates, which is important for understanding population changes.

Travel and Career Highlights

In 1799, Malthus traveled around Europe with his college friend, William Otter. They visited Germany, Scandinavia, and Russia. Malthus used this trip to collect information about populations. Otter later wrote a book about Malthus. In 1802, Malthus also traveled to France and Switzerland with his future wife, Harriet.

In 1803, he became the rector (a type of priest) of Walesby, Lincolnshire.

In 1805, Malthus became a professor of History and Political Economy at the East India Company College in Hertfordshire. His students liked him and sometimes called him "Pop" or "Population" Malthus.

In 1818, Malthus became a Fellow of the Royal Society, a very respected scientific group.

Malthus and Ricardo: Economic Debates

In the 1820s, Malthus had important discussions with another famous economist, David Ricardo. This is often called the Malthus–Ricardo debate. Both had written books called Principles of Political Economy. They discussed the nature of economics itself.

One part of their debate was about "economic rent." Malthus saw rent (money paid for land) as a type of extra wealth. Ricardo, however, thought rent was money taken from production because land was scarce, not because of free trade.

They also debated the idea of a "general glut," which means too many goods are produced and not enough people can buy them. Malthus believed that it was possible to have too many goods and that economies could be out of balance for a long time. Ricardo disagreed, following a belief called Say's Law, which stated that producing goods always creates enough demand to buy them.

Malthus believed that economics should consider broader moral and political issues, not just narrow financial ones. This difference in their goals affected their discussions and made it hard for them to agree on definitions.

Malthus also supported the protectionist Corn Laws after the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the few economists who supported taxes on imported grain. He argued that these laws would encourage Britain to produce its own food, making the country self-sufficient.

Later Life and Works

In 1821, Malthus helped start the Political Economy Club. In 1824, he was chosen as one of the ten royal associates of the Royal Society of Literature. He was also one of the first members of the Statistical Society, founded in 1834.

In 1827, he published Definitions in Political Economy. In this book, he tried to set clear rules for defining and using terms in economics. He was the first economist to create a clear list of terms and their definitions. He also criticized other economists for being unclear with their terms.

However, a newspaper editor named John Ramsay McCulloch wrote a very harsh review of Malthus's book. McCulloch felt personally attacked and criticized Malthus for trying to "dictate" terms. This review hurt Malthus's reputation as an economist for the rest of his life. Still, Malthus had supporters, including Thomas Chalmers and Richard Jones.

Thomas Malthus died suddenly from heart disease on December 23, 1834. He was buried in Bath Abbey. People who knew him described him as tall and good-looking, despite his cleft lip and palate.

Family Life

On March 13, 1804, Malthus married Harriet Eckersall. They had three children: a son and two daughters. His son, Henry, became a vicar. His middle daughter, Emily, lived until 1885. His youngest daughter, Lucille, died unmarried in 1825, just before her 18th birthday.

An Essay on the Principle of Population

Malthus explained that there are two main ways population growth is kept in check, or limited, by the amount of resources available:

• Positive checks: These are things that increase the death rate, like hunger, disease, and war.
• Preventive checks: These are things that lower the birth rate, like people choosing to marry later or not marry at all (celibacy).

The rapid increase in the world's population over the last century shows some of the patterns Malthus predicted. His ideas also help explain how populations changed in complex societies before the Industrial Revolution. These findings are used in modern mathematical models that study long-term historical population changes.

Malthus wrote that if there were plenty of resources, a population could double in just 25 years. In later versions of his book, he explained that if society relied on suffering to limit population growth, then problems like hunger, disease, and war would always affect society. This would also lead to unstable economic times.

However, he believed that "preventive checks," like marrying later, could lead to a higher standard of living for everyone and make the economy more stable. Malthus argued against ideas that suggested agricultural improvements could solve population limits forever.

Regarding the link between population and economics, Malthus wrote that when the number of workers grows faster than food production, real wages (how much people can buy with their money) fall. This happens because the growing population makes the cost of living (especially food) go up. The difficulties of raising a family then slow down population growth. Eventually, a smaller population can lead to higher real wages again.

In the second and later editions of his essay, Malthus put more focus on "moral restraint" (people choosing to have fewer children) as the best way to reduce poverty among the lower classes.

Book Editions

• 1798: An Essay on the Principle of Population, as it affects the future improvement of society with remarks on the speculations of Mr. Godwin, M. Condorcet, and other writers.. Published without his name.
• 1803: Second and much larger edition: An Essay on the Principle of Population; or, a view of its past and present effects on human happiness; with an enquiry into our prospects respecting the future removal or mitigation of the evils which it occasions. This time, he put his name on it.
• 1806, 1807, 1816, and 1826: Editions 3–6, with small changes from the second edition.
• 1823: Malthus wrote the article on Population for the Encyclopædia Britannica.
• 1830: A long part of his 1823 article was reprinted as A summary view of the Principle of Population.

Other Important Writings

1800: The present high price of provisions

In his first published pamphlet, Malthus argued against the common belief that greedy middlemen caused high food prices. Instead, Malthus said that the high prices came from the Poor Laws. These laws increased the money given to poor families based on the price of corn. With a limited food supply, this pushed up the price of daily necessities. However, he also concluded that in times of scarcity, these laws could actually help by making the price of corn rise more evenly.

1814: Observations on the effects of the Corn Laws

The Corn Laws were rules about grain prices in Britain, starting in 1815. After the Napoleonic Wars, Parliament passed a law that stopped foreign corn from being imported until British corn cost 80 shillings per quarter. This high price made food very expensive and caused hardship for working-class people in cities. It even led to riots in London.

In this pamphlet, Malthus somewhat supported free trade. He argued that since growing British corn was becoming more expensive, it would be helpful to bring in cheaper corn from other countries.

1820: Principles of political economy

In 1820, Malthus published Principles of Political Economy. (A second edition was published after he died in 1836.) Malthus wanted this book to compete with Ricardo's Principles (1817). In this book, and his 1827 Definitions in political economy, he supported the ideas of Sismondi about "general glut" (too many goods) instead of Say's Law, which claimed there could be no general glut.

Images for kids

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  The epitaph of Malthus just inside the entrance to Bath Abbey

See also

In Spanish: Thomas Malthus para niños