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Explain And Evaluate Critically Malthus's Population Theory. - Example Papers

Explain And Evaluate Critically Malthus's Population Theory.

In 1798 Thomas Robert Malthus, a British clergyman and professor, wrote
an essay showing the way to modern demography. In 1824 he wrote a shorter final
version, the article on population for that year's Encyclopedia Britannica.
Malthus has been criticized for his lack of scientific foresight—he did not
foresee modern advances leading to increased life expectancy, food production
and birth control. He has been criticized for his politics—he thought welfare
immorally increased population and hunger. He has been criticized for pessimism—
the adjective Malthusian is associated with a gloomy outlook for humanity. But
he showed the way for the study of human population.
People. To learn ...

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population
tends to double. So if world population is represented by 1, then after each 25
years it would be 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and so on, provided there were no limits on
such "natural" rates of population increase.
Food. To learn how fast people might produce food, Malthus examined
agriculture in several countries, and made a rough estimate: all food produced
could increase each 25 years by at most the prior 25 years' increase. So if
food production is represented by 1, then after each 25 years it would be 2, 3,
4, 5, 6, and so on. In other words, food could only increase arithmetically,
whereas the population if otherwise left unfettered would tend to increase
geometrically.
Checks on Population. Malthus concluded that, since food is necessary
to human life, world population will necessarily grow slower than its natural
trend. Malthus postulated two types of checks on human population growth---
positive and negative. Positive checks are increases in the death rate as ...

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 9/21/2005 01:21:51 PM
Category: Economics
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 766
Pages: 3

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