Thomas Robert Malthus :(1766-1834)

Abstract

Thomas Robert Malthus was born into a wealthy intellectual family in 1766. Malthus tried to discover the reasons for great changes in economic, social and demographic development and he saw them in the overly rapid pace of population growth in relation to the availability of sources of subsistence. He was the first person to formulate a simple mathematical expression for this problem. He published an essay on the problem anonymously in 1798 as a reaction to the optimistic views of his father’s friends and he was surprised by the large response it got from the public. His essay had its admirers but also some harsh critics. He was aware of the shortcomings of the text; it was more a pamphlet than a scientific work. He devoted the next five years after the essay’s publication to studying this subject, visited several countries, and published his findings in another essay in 1803 that was three times longer and was released under his name. This second essay presented many new ideas and he put much more emphasis on the moral restraints of population growth.