An Essay on the Principle of Population [Volume 1] Thomas Robert Malthus Introduction by RN Ghosh 9788126915194 Books
Download As PDF : An Essay on the Principle of Population [Volume 1] Thomas Robert Malthus Introduction by RN Ghosh 9788126915194 Books
Malthuss famous An Essay on the Principle of Population was first published in 1798. The book had six editions till 1826, and in each edition Malthus made changes to his original idea. From a pessimist par excellence in 1798, he mellowed into a realist in successive editions. But he continued to argue that population had a tendency to outstrip the supply of food necessary for its survival, and that it could be held in check either through positive checks such as famines and wars or through preventive checks such as contraception and moral restraint. He was always opposed to contraception but gave his support to moral restraint which involved, among other things, late marriages, celibacy and voluntary sexual control within wedlock. Malthuss theory is based on two assumptions (1) That food is necessary to the existence of humans; this is a natural law. (2) That the passion between man and woman is natural; this is a biological law. Malthus noted an incompatibility between the physical law and the biological law and argued that, in the absence of checks to population growth, population would always have a tendency to grow faster than the supply of food necessary for its subsistence. He went on to say that population, when its growth is unchecked, increases in a geometrical progression, such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and so on, in each successive generation. The food supply, on the other hand, increases, according to Malthus, in arithmetic progression, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. Modern demographers find Malthusian view of power of population highly pessimistic. However, the facts that the world population is increasing at a fast rate notwithstanding various family planning measures, and world food security is under serious threat bear testimony that Malthuss ideas are holding true even today. The Essay is a great classic that firmly established Malthus as a social scientist. The extraordinary quality of this book is that it is of great relevance to any society because the growth of population vs. the means to sustain them will always remain an issue. Moreover, migration of population, supply and cost of labour, population ageing, checks on growth of population, etc. are important issues worldwide even today. The book has been brought out to help the students, teachers and researchers of economics and sociology, in their study and research. A comprehensive introduction has been given to highlight various pertinent issues on the subject. It will immensely benefit policymakers and demographers. To those who are interested in knowing about population and its features, the book will provide for a richly rewarding and stimulating reading.
An Essay on the Principle of Population [Volume 1] Thomas Robert Malthus Introduction by RN Ghosh 9788126915194 Books
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An Essay on the Principle of Population [Volume 1] Thomas Robert Malthus Introduction by RN Ghosh 9788126915194 Books Reviews
While time has proven Malthus's analysis to be inadequate at best, Malthus's essay proved to be widely influential over the next several decades/centuries. The thesis of the essay is that population grows at a geometric rate while food grows at an arithmetic rate. Thus no matter how prosperous a society becomes, population will react in kind, and the standard of living will revert to subsistence levels. This led him to support strict property rights, since the chaos to ensue without them during a time of food scarcity would be devastating to civilized society.
He discusses and renounces the Poor Laws (Parish Laws) in England on the following grounds
-Law doesn’t increase production, thus prices for food may be bid up and real position is unchanged;
-If higher prices stimulated more production of a certain food, the new production would have to all be from increased productivity. Otherwise, lands previously meant for one type of food would simply be drawn into another, and the net amount of food would be unchanged (during a time when nearly all capital which could support food production was already improved as agricultural land);
-Even if both of the above were solved, increased food supply would beget increased population, and the food/person ratio would continue to approach subsistence levels.
Malthus showed some physiocratic traits, like supporting subsidies for food production and considering all non-agricultural industry “unproductive,” but not for the physiocratic reason of thinking agriculture has surplus to pay rents while manufactures don’t…because it’s simply not true. He just says he agrees because manufactures can’t be consumed for sustenance or offer real improvement of wage laborer. He believes Adam Smith was wrong in thinking that any increase in the capital stock would benefit wage earners. If the capital stock of manufactures increases and offers higher wages to laborers, but the agricultural stock is unchanged, the wage increase may prove nominal as it bids agricultural goods prices up. This may prove temporary though, as higher prices will then attract producers to agriculture.
The second half of the book focuses on refuting Godwin’s assertions on the perfectibility of man, mainly regarding the idea that population will not be an issue because sexual passion will diminish in favor of intellectual pursuits. Malthus attacks pretty aggressively on the stance that, while possible, there’s no actual evidence to support this idea, and that any speculation about its occurrence would be the guess of a seer and void of philosophy.
When it comes to Godwin’s idea that the owner/laborer relationship is immoral, and that the owners of capital should charitably give to all potential laborers, Malthus points out that one cannot give a meaningful amount to all charitable beneficiaries, and so only a select few must be chosen. The logical solution to this problem is for laborers to compete for the capital owners’ funds via employment. He further attacks the ideas of socialist production and consumption based on the impossibility of monitoring and measuring productivity, as well as the difficulties in meritocratically distributing goods for consumption.
Towards the very end he builds off Locke on pain and pleasure being motivation for all action (pre-Bentham). He believes “pain” (adversity) is necessary so that man may overcome it and grow in ability and intellect.
After the first two chapters of An Essay on The Principle of Population, Malthus rambles on and then ties it up at the end. You only need the first two chapters to understand Malthus' argument.
I can't figure out how to go back and see what the rating on this book was from the seller. It smells like an attic and is bent at the top and bottom right hand side (the whole book, not just the cover or a few pages) - there are no marks in the book and it's readable so I'll just air it out. So depending on the rating it may be in exactly the condition stated - it's not bad - it's just not what I'm used to from resellers. Maybe this is the new normal - I'll still buy them over the new books any day of the week!
I am a huge fan of Malthus and his Principle of Population. I read it years ago, and it has changed my life. I was a total pro-space techno-optimist prior to reading this book, but now I see echoes of Malthus' words in so many significant works by great people such as Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, Francis Place, K. Eric Drexler, Isaac Asimov, Richard Dawkins, Prof. Albert Bartlett, Paul R. Ehrlich, Carl Sagan, Donella Meadows, Sir David Attenborough and so on. As a result my pro-space techno-optimism is tempered by a deep and abiding concern for all life on Earth, and an enduring respect for living sustainably within limits to growth.
So why do I call this a "flawed gem"? I believe that Malthus presented an important argument on populations periodically overrunning resources but with issues with two of the basic premises regarding the arithmetic (or linear) growth of food supply supply and the geometric (or exponential) growth of population.
Logically, food always grows in populations and so food must also grow exponentially. Others (e.g. Engels) have also pointed this out. Malthus himself provides two examples (in A Summary View, available in this Penguin edition of Malthus' work) of the exponential growth of food populations, namely for sheep and grain. Secondly, the Malthusian Growth Model (as it is now known) for exponential growth at a constant rate does not occur in Nature (the closest we get is an occasional "exponential phase", but not literally a constant rate...forever). Again though, to be fair to Malthus, he used constant rate exponential growth (as characterised by his famous 25 year doubling period for the population of the USA) only as an example of exponential growth and in fact stated "Practically, it would sometimes be slower, and sometimes faster." In other words, even though this is virtually never acknowledged, he was arguing for variable rate exponential growth or - in modern financial terms - variable rate compound interest.
So my revised Exponentialist version of Malthus' argument is that all populations of all species grow via variable rate compound interest which is comparable in power to Malthus' classic exponential growth at a constant rate. To me, famine then is the result of imbalances in the "exponential growth" (based on variable rate compound interest) of food supply and population. Balancing exponential forces is tricky.
As Antony Flew noted in his preface, Malthus was the best abused man of his age (and ever since). Malthus is often demonised as cruel and heartless but I believe that on balance Malthus argued from a position of sincere compassion on a difficult and very personal topic (human reproduction leading periodically to famine). Nobody wants to hear that sort of bad news...even if it's true.
I would also recommend reading the 6th edition of Malthus' essay, as it is virtually a second volume on the Principle of Population rather than a minor edit.
WAS ON TIME AND WAS BRAND NEW JUST LIKE THEY STATES IT WOULD BE HONEY BUNCHES OF OAT LOL YES MAM
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