Thomas Malthus and Population Theory Flashcards

A set of vocabulary flashcards reviewing Thomas Malthus's population theory, historical demographic shifts, Malthusian solutions, and major critiques like Esther Boserup's model.

Thomas Malthus

An Anglican Minister who in $1798$ published An Essay on the Principle of Population and proposed a theory on population growth and food supply.

An Essay on the Principle of Population

The $1798$ work by Thomas Malthus proposing two basic laws of human society: food is necessary for life, and the passion between the sexes is a constant leading to continuous multiplication.

Industrial Revolution Population Explosion

A massive growth in human population driven by two main factors: slowly increasing birth rates and sharply falling death rates due to new medicines and vaccines.

Edward Jenner

The individual who introduced vaccines, which took much of the sting out of pandemic diseases like smallpox and allowed people to live longer.

Geometric Growth

The rate at which Thomas Malthus observed human population growing as people obey their passions and multiply.

Arithmetic Growth

The rate at which Thomas Malthus observed the food supply growing, which increases more slowly than geometric population growth.

Misery and Vice

The predicted cycle of famines, wars, and plagues that Malthus believed would reduce population to a manageable level equal to the food supply.

Malthus's Proposed Solutions

Delaying marriage, having fewer children, and stopping governments from helping the poor.

Neo-Malthusians

A group around the middle of the $20\text{th}$ century that revived Malthusian thought, arguing that humanity was rapidly approaching apocalyptic misery.

Paul early

The most famous Neo-Malthusian who argued along the same lines as Malthus regarding an approaching point of apocalyptic misery.

Esther Boserup

An economist who critiqued Malthusian theory by arguing that the rate of food production is directly proportional to population growth, as growing populations innovate to feed themselves.