Opositions to Thomas Malthus Theory on Population Growth

Thomas Malthus was an early 19th century English scholar who specializes in political economy and demographics. One of his most well-known and influential works ‘An Essay on the Principle of Population argued that the increase in population growth would ultimately create social and economic problems for a nation. On the contrary, many famous political economists such as Ester Boserup and Julian Simon suggested different views about population and resource growth; which contradicts the Malthus’ theory. Thomas Malthus’ wrote ‘An Essay on the Principle of Population’ argued that the increasing rate of population growth is the impetus of many social and economic issues that affects our society. His belief was that population increases in geometrical scale whilst basic supply for humans increase in arithmetical scale, ‘I SAID THAT POPULATION, WHEN UNCHECKED, increased in a geometrical ratio, and subsistence for man in an arithmetical ratio.’ ( Quoted from An Essay on the Principle of Population, Chapter 2, page 6) Malthus believed that overpopulation would lead to mass malnutrition, famine, disease and even war. He proposed two kinds of method that could keep the population in a sustainable level. First is preventative checks, which suggested using moral restrains such as the practice of abstinence and criminal punishments for those who had children that they could not support. The other method is positive checks. Positive checks are factors that could increase the death