Malthus: On the Principle of Population

Population's Effect on Society

Malthus argues that because

1. food is necessary to the existence of man
2. passion between the sexes is necessary and will remain nearly in its present state

the power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man. He notes that

1. population, unchecked, grows at an exponential rate
2. subsistance increases at a linear rate

Since these two powers must be kept equal, a consistent check on population is implied.

Therefore, he concludes that the perfectibility of the mass of mankind is impossible.

Population's Effect on Human Happiness

Malthus states that the ultimate check to population appears to be a want of food, but the immediate checks check the population growth from day to day:

1. The preventive check covers the idea that a poor man who has a small amount of excess income does not have the reasoning ability to see that he may not be able to feed many more mouths with that small surplus, so the conditions are calculated to eliminate the surpluses among young families.
2. The positive check covers common diseases, epidemics, wars, plagues, famines, extreme poverty and severe labor that reduce the excess population from time to time.

Population and Poverty

Malthus argues that the poor are the cause of their own poverty and misery because they have five or six children when their wages of labor are hardly able to support two children.