An Essay on the Principle of Population

Thomas Robert Malthus

Seminar Questions

Chapter I

What is the “great question now at issue” that motivated Malthus to write?
Specifically, whose writings are being contested by Malthus? What position do these writers adopt?
What two postulates underlie Malthus’s argument against the thesis set forth by the aforementioned writers?
What four propositions follow immediately from these postulates?
What conclusion does Malthus draw from his model?
Challenge: Draw a graph illustrating the core of Malthus’s model, as found in his second proposition.

Chapter II

What fear acts as a check to early marriage in all societies with which Malthus is acquainted?
Why does Malthus take it as his rule that at the maximum rate of population growth the population doubles every 25 years?
In paragraph 16, Malthus states, “the increase of the human species can only be kept commensurate to the increase of the means of subsistence by the constant operation of the strong law of necessity acting as a check upon the greater power?” What does he mean by this?
Why does the restraint of postponing marriage “almost necessarily” produce vice (para. 20)?
What sort of “oscillation” in population can be observed in most societies? What explains this pattern?
Malthus comments on the pattern of nominal and real wages observed across countries? What pattern is this?
With what three propositions does Malthus end this chapter?

Chapter III

What intellectual model forms the basic foundation upon which this chapter’s argument is based? Can you name anyone who utilized such a model?
What explains the population pattern in societies based on hunting and gathering?
How does Malthus explain the great migrations of peoples from the western Asian steppes into China, on the east, and Europe, on the west?
How does Malthus work “misery and vice” into his analysis of nomadic, pastoral peoples?

Chapter IV

What did Malthus believe about the population of Europe in his day, compared to its population in earlier times (such as during the days of the Roman Empire)? What was his argument in support of his position? Was he correct?
European population growth rates have been much lower than the rate of population growth in America, Malthus avers. Why? (Paragraph 7)
What is the difference between a “preventive check” on population and a “positive check”? [Compare para. 1 in Chapter 5.]

Chapter V

Malthus held strong views on the English poor laws. These laws provided payments to poor families through their parish churches. The laws also restricted the mobility of the poor, since one could register for assistance only in his own parish.
Summarize Malthus’s analysis of the effects of the poor laws. Note the points at which he uses demand/supply analysis, points out tradeoffs and unintended consequences, and discusses the shape of the supply curve for unskilled labor.
Without using the term, Malthus argues that the poor laws produce moral hazard. What illustration of this principle does he provide?
To what extent is Malthus’s critique of the poor laws valid? To what extent, if any, is it applicable to modern welfare systems?
With what does Malthus propose to replace the poor laws? What benefits does he believe would follow from such a revision in the laws?

Chapter VI

Over the preceding century, population had grown much faster in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in South America than in Europe and faster still in the English colonies in North America.
What is Malthus’s explanation of the relatively rapid growth of the South American colonies, compared to Europe?
To what does he ascribe the fact that the population in the United States of America grew even faster than in South America?