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Quote by Thomas Malthus

“THERE is scarcely any inquiry more curious, or, from its importance, more worthy of attention, than that which traces the causes which practically check the progress of wealth in different countries, and stop it, or make it proceed very slowly, while the power of production remains comparatively undiminished, or at least would furnish the means of a great and abundant increase of produce and population.”

Author

Thomas Malthus

Thomas Malthus, a British economist and demographer, was born on February 14, 1766, in Surrey, England, and died on December 23, 1834. Malthus is known for his theory of population, which posits that population growth will outstrip food supply, leading to poverty and suffering. more

“If one fourth of the capital of a country were suddenly destroyed, or entirely transferred to a different part of the world, without any other cause occurring of a diminished demand for commodities, this scantiness of capital would certainly occasion great inconvenience to consumers, and great distress among the working classes; but it would be attended with great advantages to the remaining capitalists.”

Ifs World Different Country Would Be Causes Class Demand Advantage Destroyed Occasions Consumers Capitalist Fourth Distress Commodity Working Class Inconvenience

Author:Thomas Malthus

“When Hume and Adam Smith prophesied that a little increase of national debt beyond the then amount of it, would probably occasion bankruptcy; the main cause of their error was the natural one, of not being able to see the vast increase of productive power to which the nation would subsequently obtain.”

Littles Able Nations Causes Natural Amount Increase Errors Debt Occasions Productive Adam Bankruptcy National Debt Hume

Book:An Essay on the Principle of Population, Or, a View of Its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness: With an Inquiry Into Our Prospects Respecting the Future Removal Or Mitigation of the Evils which it Occasions

Source: An Essay on the Principle of Population, Or, a View of Its Past and Present Effects on Human Happiness: With an Inquiry Into Our Prospects Respecting the Future Removal Or Mitigation of the Evils which it Occasions

“The employment of the poor in roads and public works, and a tendency among landlords and persons of property to build, to improve and beautify their grounds, and to employ workmen and menial servants, are the means most within our power and most directly calculated to remedy the evils arising from that disturbance in the balance of produce and consumption.”

Mean Persons Evil Poor Produce Balance Property Tendencies Employment Servant Remedy Consumption Disturbance Workmen Landlord

Author:Thomas Malthus

“In 1860, sixty-three per cent of the couples married in Great Britain had families of four or more children; in 1925 only twenty per cent had more than four.”

Children Three Four Couple Married Twenties Britain Cents Sixty Great Britain

Author:Thomas Malthus

“The doctrine of population has been conspicuously absent, not because I doubt in the least its truth and vast importance, but because it forms no part of the direct problem of economics.”

Has Beens Problem Form Doubt Economics Direct Importance Population Doctrine Absent

Author:Thomas Malthus

“Capitals accumulate faster than population”

Population Faster

Author:Thomas Malthus