Malthus, Thomas

[ (mal-thuhs) ]

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

notes for Malthus, Thomas

Malthusian theories hold that populations will always increase faster than food supplies and that, therefore, hunger will always exist among the poorest populations ( see Malthusianism).

notes for Malthus, Thomas

Malthus's pessimistic views, along with those of David Ricardo, earned economics the reputation of being the “dismal science.”