#ecomomist

by: Beatriz Lozada and Katrina Yulo, Promotions Officer of the 6th International Conference

Thomas Malthus was born on the 13th of February 1766 to Daniel and Henrietta Malthus. He was born to a wealthy family who was acquainted to personalities like David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Just like any other child during his time, Thomas Malthus was educated at home. In 1791, he was able to finish his studies with an M.A. In 1874, he attended formal schooling at Jesus College in Cambridge where he learned old languages and mathematics, and eventually became a fellow in the said college. Also, during 1805 Malthus became a professor of political economy at East India Company College where his students called him “Pop” because of his theory on the development of population.

Thomas Malthus is an economist famous for his theory on population which was published in his book entitled “An essay on the principle of population”. Published in 1978, the book tackles different issues on population growth, war, famine and disease. According to him, food shortage is inevitable because population grows geometrically (i.e. 2,4,6,8,…) and food supply or production grows arithmetically (i.e. 2,3,4,5). Therefore the “Malthusian Equation” states that food production will later on be insufficient given the continuous population growth. Such scenario would eventually lead to a rise in death rate. He also added that “preventive checks” must be made to assure that the family size of an individual matches their means or capacity.

For him, the most acceptable “preventive check” is postponing marriage until an individual is already “financially capable” of supporting a family. The use of birth control pills etc. are just mere vices which threatens the morals of the society. In his own perspective, the root cause of poverty is the growth of family size which is caused by lack of self-restraint. He also added that the poor, themselves, are the ones who should be blamed for the situation.

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