Thomas Robert Malthus (eBook)

David Reisman is Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Surrey, UK, and Senior Associate, Centre for Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Reisman has also published James Buchanan and James Edward Meade within Palgrave Macmillan’s series Great Thinkers in Economics

Also by David Reisman 6
Contents 8
1 Introduction 10
1.1From Theology to Political Economy 11
1.2Enemies and Friends 24
1.3An Underdeveloped Country 30
References 34
2 Induction and Deduction 38
2.1The Mixed Methodology 40
2.2Population Malthus 46
References 55
3 The Law of Population 58
3.1The Optimum Population 58
3.2The Ratios 61
3.3The Checks 62
3.4Moral Restraint 67
3.5The Road to Moral Restraint 71
3.6Employment 74
3.7Emigration 76
3.8Statement, Prediction and Tendency 79
References 84
4 Public Policy 86
4.1Law and Order 87
4.2Good Government 89
4.3The Politics of Fear 92
4.4The State as Leader 94
4.4.1Population 94
4.4.2Pay 96
4.4.3Property 97
4.5Education for Citizenship 100
References 104
5 The Poor Laws 106
5.1Income Maintenance: The First Essay 107
5.2Poor People: The Later Essays 111
5.3Institutional Reform 113
5.4The Right to Welfare 115
5.5The Social Contract 118
5.6The End of the Poor Laws 120
References 122
6 Balanced Growth 123
6.1The Surplus 123
6.2The Primary Sector 128
6.3The Secondary Sector 130
6.4The Dual Economy 132
6.4.1Reciprocal Demand 132
6.4.2A Balanced Economy 134
References 136
7 Tariffs and Bounties 138
7.1Investigation of the High Price of Provisions (1800) 140
7.2Observations on the Corn Laws (1814) 141
7.3Grounds of an Opinion (1815) 146
7.4An Inquiry into Rent (1815) 150
7.4.1Rents and Profits 150
7.4.2The Real Wage 153
7.5The Essay on Population 155
7.6The Land and the Principles 159
7.6.1Free Trade in Grain 159
7.6.2Rise and Fall 160
7.7Towards 1836 162
References 163
8 The Circular Flow 165
8.1Wealth 165
8.1.1Goods 166
8.1.2Services 167
8.2Value 169
8.3Say’s Law 174
8.4Oscillation and Trend 177
8.4.1The Fluctuations 177
8.4.2The Trend 179
8.5The Golden Mean 181
8.6Restoring the Balance 184
References 187
9 Circular Flow and Social Class 190
9.1The Working Class 191
9.1.1The Population Constraint 192
9.1.2Earning and Spending 193
9.1.3Informal Indexation 195
9.1.4Capital and Labour 197
9.1.5Jobless Growth 199
9.2The Middle Class 202
9.3The Landowners 206
9.3.1A Spending Class 206
9.3.2Unproductive Consumption 209
References 211
10 Society and State 214
10.1The Distribution of Land 215
10.1.1Distance and Demand 215
10.1.2Land and Law 218
10.1.3Land and Politics 220
10.2Habits and Conventions 223
10.3State and Demand 231
10.3.1Spending and Taxing 232
10.3.2The National Debt 235
References 237
11 Foreign Trade 239
11.1 The Gains from Trade 240
11.2 Home and Abroad 244
References 246
12 Money 248
12.1 The Economics of the Suspension 248
12.1.1 The Bullionist Controversy 249
12.1.2 Malthus and the Suspension 252
12.2 A Return to Specie 255
12.2.1 The Quantity of Money 255
12.2.2 The International Standard 257
12.2.3 Modifications and Extensions 258
12.3 Forced Saving 262
References 267
13 God’s Design 270
13.1Mind and Matter 272
13.2Activity 274
13.3Utility 278
13.4The Dilemma of Utility 280
13.5Compulsion by Consent 282
13.6From Nature to Revelation 284
13.7The Shadow of Paley 286
13.8Was Malthus a Christian? 288
References 293
14 Malthus’s Legacy: A System of Ideas 296
References 301
Index 303