Part Two: Malthus, Marx, and Others on Population, Resources, and Poverty

Malthus Essay on the Principle of Population published 1798

Who was Malthus?

What did he say?

• Population growth faster than resource growth
• This leads to overpopulation
• Consequences of overpopulation
• "Checks" on population growth needed (and inevitable)
• Positive checks
• Negative (moral) checks
• Different checks for rich and poor

Critiques of Malthus

• Neo-Malthusian views
• Marx’s Critique of Malthus
• The problem is surplus population not overpopulation
• Critiques of Marx?
• Malthus, Marx and concepts of Nature
• Cornucopian Arguments

Demographic Transition Model

Feminist Arguments

The "Population Implosion"