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Topic: Thomas Robert Malthus- Economic Theories

He was a british scholar in the late 17/early 18 century. Has been credited with the economic idea of diminishing returns and many other terms/ideas we use today in economics. Some considered his theories  to be very gloomy, he basically predicted a world filled with famine and disease. His idea in a nutshell was that population increase can be modeled by a geometric ratio(2,4,6,12,24,48...) while food/agricultural production increase can be modeled by a arithmetical ration(1,2,3,4,5,6,7...).

He basically believed that population must be controlled to prevent famine, disease and a doomsday.


This is the VERY VERY VERY short summary of what he believed in. He has a couple more theories, this was the jist of it. You guys can read up a bit about him on his wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Robert_Malthus
for background info.


Do you guys agree with him? Why? Or why not?
Do you think he's a whack job? tongue

Any opinions, comments. Let's hear em.

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Re: Thomas Robert Malthus- Economic Theories

I think that at his day and age, he truly believed this theory. However, luckily, nowadays we have the crop techniques, genetics, and technology to grow/manufacture hundreds% more crops than back then. So, no, I dont think population should be controlled. Human beings are smarter than to resort to forced murders when faced with this problem. If you cant grow wide, grow tall.

Music is passion, energy, creativity, and...well... almost always better on drugs ;-)

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Re: Thomas Robert Malthus- Economic Theories

I'm gonna go ahead and play the devil's advocate. big_smile

I would tell you to look at other countries in the world right now, they face this problem of high population and with insufficient food production, even with better technology.

Should the richer nations try to control the poorer nations in population?

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Re: Thomas Robert Malthus- Economic Theories

Im saying that richer nations already do whether they like it or not. America alone produces 412.0 metric tons of grain per year, while every other non-major nation (such as China, Russia, Canada, India, any European nation, etc) produces only 363.1. The major nations mentioned dont come close, except for China who trails by 10 metric tons or so.

My point is, with crop technology and growing techniques, humans can usher in WAY more crops than any other time period. Besides, why wouldnt America sell crops to everyone else, isnt it a win/win situation for both?

Music is passion, energy, creativity, and...well... almost always better on drugs ;-)

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5 Reply by avogadro (edited by avogadro 07-Oct-2009 03:22:07)

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Re: Thomas Robert Malthus- Economic Theories

the only thing causing the majority of the people to starve that starve is war. if a country has stability, it is in the west's best interest to invest in them, because its cheaper to increase the productivity of such a low technology group, then it is to increase the productivity of one in a first world country. Many asian countries have become relatively stable and as a result have seen investments from the west, that have made both quite prosperous; if the rest of the Asian nations and African nations are able to produce stable governments then they too would prosper, and starvation would become rare throughout the world.

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Re: Thomas Robert Malthus- Economic Theories

> Toothache911 wrote:

> My point is, with crop technology and growing techniques, humans can usher in WAY more crops than any other time period. Besides, why wouldnt America sell crops to everyone else, isnt it a win/win situation for both?


America uses its grain, which could feed billions to feed cattle to produce plentiful, cheap beef in the US.

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