isoftenreferredtoasaMalthusian catastrophe, an episode that then triggers a
return to equilibrium and the beginning of the cycle. The food supply available
after the catastrophe is sufficient for the reduced population, but the instinct to
reproduce will soon, other factors not intervening, result in a population growth
rate that will exceed the ability to feed that population. Malthus suggests that this
dynamic has always been in place in history, but that the relationship between food
production and humanity’s drive to overproduce resulting in “gigantic, inevitable
famine” is often masked or delayed by other events that reduce the population
growth rate, at least temporarily.
In the earlier editions of his treatise,Malthus labeled events that slowed or
interfered with the “principle” he described as “positive checks.” These factors
included war and disease, which obviously reduced the population, as well as
more general limiting factors like poverty, hazardous working conditions, and
infanticide. He did not believe that the perils of overpopulation could be alleviated
by implementing legislation that assisted the poor. On the contrary, Malthus was
opposed to reforms that were directed at improving the lot of the masses, because
he held that such efforts would only increase the capacity of humanity to repro-
duce, making the path to the Malthusian catastrophe that much shorter. He was
not indifferent to the condition of the poor in England but believed that private
charity was more effective in improving their lives. Moreover, he did not advocate
contraception in general, although he recognized that the practice would also serve
as a “check” to some degree on population growth. As his theory evolved through
the years, Malthus eventually offered the view that expansion of the population
might also be limited by couples delaying marriage, some individuals not marry-
ing at all, and limiting sexual activity. He was not optimistic that humanity would
adopt these suggestions, however, as such voluntary checks had seldom been
applied historically and had little record of extended success. Even in regions
where the resource base appeared virtually limitless in the early 19th century, such
as North America, Malthus propounded that the population would eventually
reach a level of growth that would exceed the ability of the land to feed everyone,
without the frequent mitigating effect of the “positive checks.”
The influence of the Malthusian argument has penetrated many fields of think-
ing and decision-making. In biological science, it is clear that the theory of natural
selection and evolution developed by Charles Darwin was shaped by the ideas of
Malthus. Darwin himself characterized his theories as representing the Malthusian
model at work in nature, rather than in human society, and other theoreticians in
evolution were also admirers of Malthus. In economics, the influential British
economist David Ricardo was a contemporary of Malthus and corresponded with
him. Ricardo was especially interested in how the precepts of Malthusian theory
applied to the labor supply and subsequent influences on economic growth.214 Malthusian Theory