Malthus Flashcards
when was malthus first essay wrote?
1798
what were the two premises that malthus states in his first essay?
1st premise - food is necessary to the existence of man
2nd premise - the passion between the sexes is necessary and will remain nearly in its present state - constant
what does malthus believe about the type of growth of the population?
it has a geometric growth rate
what does malthus believe about the growth rate of the food?
it has an arithmetic growth rate
how long does it take for the population to double according to malthus and therefore what is the growth rate?
malthus claims that the population doubles every 25 years. this means that there is an annual population growth of 2.8%.
what is malthus’ views on population and food and what the end result?
he states that the population growth is limited by the growth of food supply.
what are the checks on the power of population?
misery and vice, left uncheck the population will grow but it is limited by the avaliability of food so ultimatley it will lead to misery and vice
does malthus justify the stated population growth rate?
no he simply just asserts that population doubles every 25 years
what does malthus believes occurs when the food supply rises?
real incomes will grow therefore there will be an increase in the population until the incomes are back at the substitent level
does he have any evidence about the relationship between food and population?
he does not have any real evidence that the population growth is being repessed by the level of substitence. he has little other than some informal observations and comments
what is one critque on malthus about obviousnes?
all he does is state the obvious truth that population is limited by the supply of food however he makes the jump that everyone is going to end up in misery
what was the recieval of malthus first essay?
it was heavily critised for the lack of evidence and its obvious statement about food and population but that dose not mean everyone will end up in vice and misery. there is no data to back up his points, just weak observations. he doesnt explain what he means by vice and misery
what is the difference between the first essay and the second essay?
the second essay is far more evidence orientated then the first essay. he included a third check on the population which was moral restraint.
what was a critique about malthus addition to his theory in the second book?
the addition of the moral restraint was seen by some critiques as him changing his arguement as he previously claimed that the passion of the sexes was a fixed law. however it could be argued that this was just an evolution of malthus view point. this may be backed up by the fact he says nearly constant passion of the sexes.
how did malthus reclassify his checks?
he reclassified his checks by defining them as preventitive and positive
what was malthus basic method of finding the growth rate of population?
he lookedd at the total number of births over the period and the total number of deaths to try and figure out how fast a country is growing
what was the critique of malthus second book about the growth rate?
the growth rate calculated using the data was not in line with his previous figure of the population doubling every 25 years. this shows inconsitency in his arguement
what was the critique on malthus about food growth in the second booj?
he never includes any data on the food output. this is necessary because his arguement is that the food per person is falling so he needs to know the food output and the popilation growth. there may of been a lack of data on food output however he could of asked some farmers. he just assumed data on food growth. he was living through the industrial revolution must have been clear to him that better tools will be avaliable to farmers so food growth will increase
what was a flaw with the way he calculate the population growth?
he forgot to include the immigration which will affect the food per person as more people in the economy will mean less food per person
what was the reception of malthus second book?
his work was not well received.
they argued he had a mind predisposed and was basing his data that fits his points
his points contradicted themselves from the first book.
he failed to take into account immigration, the agarian revolution
what does the post malthusian growth regime argue?
that rising per capita income is brought via acceleration of technical progress. and the population growth is still positively related to income per capita
what is the modern growth regime characterised by?
1) sustained growth of per capita GDP
2) sustained technological progress
3) democratic transistion
