An Essay on the Principle of Population: Full and Fine Vol. 2 of 1826 Edition

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Thomas Robert Malthus was the founding father of population theory of classical economics and his most well-known work AN ESSAY ON THE PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION was initially published in 1798. Malthus was often misinterpreted, but his views became popular again in the 20th century with the advent of Keynesian economics.

Malthus made essential contributions to classical economics and he has been called the most influential classical economist along with Adam Smith, John Keynes, Karl Marx, and John Stuart Mill. John Keynes called him the "first of the Cambridge economists". In The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Keynes praised Malthus's understanding of an economy's difficulties in maintaining full employment.

Malthus founded the population theory of classic economics. He told the world that population would increase in an exponential way. On the other hand, food supply could only increase to a certain point due to the limitation of land productivity and other factors. Are Malthus's ideas totally irrelevant today? Not at all. The fact remains that the world population keeps increasing, and will keep increasing.

Another British economist David Ricardo also shared the same view about population. Ricardo also said the same thing about the population as Malthus that population kept expanding, eventually there was not enough food to go around, and economic growth would stop. Together they led to economics being called "the dismal science."

Malthus's work also influenced Charles Darwin and John Keynes, two of the greatest thinkers. Charles Darwin pioneered evolution theory through his book On the Origin of Species and his theory influenced not only biology but also economics and sociology.

This is a must-read book for people who are also interested in the deepest thoughts and views about the core economic subjects such as population, supply & demand, employment, and government roles by Thomas Malthus, one of the greatest thinkers on the planet.

 

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