Who is Thomas Malthus?

Question: Who is Thomas Malthus!?
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Robert Malthus (he went by his middle name) was born in "the Rookery", a country estate in Dorking, Surrey (south of London)!. He was the second son of Daniel Malthus, a country gentleman and avid disciple of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume (both of whom he knew personally)!. Accordingly, Malthus was educated according to Rousseauvian precepts by his father and a series of tutors!. Malthus entered Jesus College, Cambridge, in 1784 and was ordained a minister of the Church of England in 1788!. He earned his M!.A!. in 1791!.

Around 1796, Malthus became a curate in the sleepy town of Albury, a few miles from his father's house!. Having been elected Fellow of Jesus College in 1793, he divided his time between Cambridge and Albury!. It was in the course of his interminable intellectual debates with his father over the "perfectibility of society" thesis then being advanced by William Godwin and the Marquis de Condorcet, that Malthus's decided to set his ideas down on paper!. It was eventually published as a pamphlet known as the Essay on Population (1798)!.

In this famous work, Malthus posited his hypothesis that (unchecked) population growth always exceeds the growth of means of subsistence!. Actual (checked) population growth is kept in line with food supply growth by "positive checks" (starvation, disease and the like, elevating the death rate) and "preventive checks" (i!.e!. postponement of marriage, etc!. that keep down the birthrate), both of which are characterized by "misery and vice"!. Malthus's hypothesis implied that actual population always has a tendency to push above the food supply!. Because of this tendency, any attempt to ameliorate the condition of the lower classes by increasing their incomes or improving agricultural productivity would be fruitless, as the extra means of subsistence would be completely absorbed by an induced boost in population!. As long as this tendency remains, Malthus argued, the "perfectibility" of society will always be out of reach!.

In his much-expanded and revised 1803 edition of the Essay, Malthus concentrated on bringing empirical evidence to bear (much of it acquired on his extensive travels to Germany, Russia and Scandinavia)!. He also introduced the possibility of "moral restraint" (voluntary abstinence which leads to neither misery nor vice) bringing the unchecked population growth rate down to a point where the tendency is gone!. In practical policy terms, this meant inculcating the lower classes with middle-class virtues!. He believed this could be done with the introduction of universal suffrage, state-run education for the poor and, more controversially, the elimination of the Poor Laws and the establishment of an unfettered nation-wide labor market!. He also argued that once the poor had a taste for luxury, then they would demand a higher standard of living for themselves before starting a family!. Thus, although seemingly contradictory, Malthus is suggesting the possibility of "demographic transition", i!.e!. that sufficiently high incomes may be enough by themselves to reduce fertility!.

The Essay transformed Malthus into an intellectual !.!.!.!.!.!.!.!.
http://cepa!.newschool!.edu/het/profiles/m!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

A British economist of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, especially concerned with overpopulation!.

Malthusian theories hold that populations will always increase faster than food supplies and that, therefore, hunger will always exist among the poorest populations!.Www@QuestionHome@Com