Historical Figures Codexery

Thomas Robert Malthus

English economist and cleric who argued that population growth tends to outpace food production, leading to a Malthusian trap.

He is best known for his 1798 book An Essay on the Principle of Population, which argued that population growth tends to outpace food production.[1]

Quick Facts

Born
13/14 February 1766
Birthplace
Westcott, Surrey, England
Died
29 December 1834
Place of death
Bath, Somerset, England
School of thought
Classical economics
Field
Demography, macroeconomics
Contributions
Malthusian growth model
Spouse
Harriet Eckersall (1804)

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Malthus was born on 13/14 February 1766 at The Rookery in Westcott, Surrey, the sixth of seven children.[2][3] He had a cleft lip and palate that affected his speech.[4] He married Harriet Eckersall on 13 March 1804.[5] Malthus argued that population growth is checked by positive factors like hunger and preventive factors like delayed marriage.[6]

He criticized the Poor Laws and supported the protectionist Corn Laws.[7][8] In 1784, Malthus began his studies at Jesus College, Cambridge; he graduated as Ninth Wrangler in mathematics and was ordained in the Church of England in 1789.[9] In 1799, Malthus traveled through Germany, Scandinavia, and Russia with his friend William Otter to collect population data.[10] Heart disease caused Malthus's sudden death on 29 December 1834 at his father-in-law's house; his burial took place at Bath Abbey.[11]

What the cited sources add

It states that Malthus's debates with his father over the "perfectibility of society" led him to write his famous essay.[12] The same source reports that Malthus forfeited his Cambridge fellowship upon marrying in 1804.[12] Shermer also notes that the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 was based on Malthusian reasoning.[13] The Meyers Konversationslexikon entry gives Malthus's death date as 29 December 1834.[14]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Thomas Robert Malthus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Geoffrey Gilbert, introduction to Malthus T.R. 1798. An Essay on the Principle of Population. Oxford World's Classics reprint. viii in Oxford World's Classics r (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Thomas Robert Malthus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Several sources give Malthus's date of death as 15 December 1834. See Meyers Konversationslexikon (Leipzig, 4th edition, 1885–1892), "Biography" by Nigel Malthu; Petersen, "Malthus: Founder of Modern Demography", Harvard University Press, 1979, p. 19 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Thomas Robert Malthus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: J. M. Pullen, "Malthus, (Thomas) Robert", 2008; The Tate Gallery: An Illustrated Companion to the National Collections of British & Modern Foreign Art. London: Tate Gallery, 1979, p. 15 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Thomas Robert Malthus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Martineau, Harriet 1877. Autobiography. 3 vols, Smith, Elder, London. vol 1, p. 327.; Essays in Biography, J. M. Keynes, Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1933, pp. 96–99; J. M. Pullen, "Malthus, (Thomas) Robert", 2008; "Thomas Robert Malthus", encyclopedia.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Thomas Robert Malthus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Knowlton, "Reproductive Physiology and Birth Control", Routledge, 2002, p. 4–6 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Thomas Robert Malthus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Geoffrey Gilbert, introduction to Malthus T.R. 1798. An Essay on the Principle of Population. Oxford World's Classics reprint. viii (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Thomas Robert Malthus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Malthus, pp. 39–45.; Malthus, p. xx. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Thomas Robert Malthus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Geoffrey Gilbert, introduction to Malthus T.R. 1798. An Essay on the Principle of Population. Oxford World's Classics reprint. xx in Oxford World's Classics ser; Cannan E. 1893. A History of the Theories of Production and Distribution in English Political Economy from 1776 to 1848. Kelly, New York. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Thomas Robert Malthus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Avery, "Progress, Poverty and Population: Re-Reading Condorcet, Godwin and Malthus", Psychology Press, 1997, p. 56–57; Petersen, William. 1979. Malthus. Heinemann, London. 2nd ed., 1999. p. 28; ; Malthus, "T.R. Malthus: The Unpublished Papers in the Collection of Kanto Gakuen University", Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 54, note 196 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Thomas Robert Malthus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; Burns, "Otter, William"; de Caritat Condorcet (marquès de), "Progress, Poverty and Population: Re-Reading Condorcet, Godwin and Malthus", Routledge, 1997, p. 64 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Thomas Robert Malthus" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; Painted by John Linnell and seen here in a cropped and scanned monochrome version.; Hodgson, "Biographical Dictionary of British Economists", Bloomsbury Academic, 2007 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  12. "Thomas Robert Malthus", www.d.umn.edu. facts only, no text reused. d.umn.edu
  13. Shermer, "Why Malthus Is Still Wrong", Scientific American, 1 May 2016. facts only, no text reused. scientificamerican.com
  14. Several sources give Malthus's date of death as 15 December 1834. See Meyers Konversationslexikon (Leipzig, 4th edition, 1885–1892), "Biography" by Nigel Malthu. facts only, no text reused. retrobibliothek.de

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Thomas Robert Malthus (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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