Smith or Malthus? A Sea-Change in the Concept of a Population
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4120301 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Philip Kreager (0000-0002-9553-2936, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 645-688 |
| Publication date | 2022-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Population and Development Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0098-7921 • E-ISSN: 1728-4457 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/padr.12488 |
| OpenAlex | W4220811974 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 33 |
This two-part article offers a critical appreciation of Malthus's political economy of population to mark the bi-centenary of hisPrinciples of Political Economy(1820). His general economic theory emerged after the first four editions of his famous Essay, in three steps: (1) a rapidly produced series of essays on tariffs, rents, and capital mal-distribution (1814-1815); (2) consequent revision of the economic basis of the Essay (1817); and (3) formal statement in the Principles. His main economic writings thus belong to a later, more mature period of his work, and their evolution is of particular interest for demography on three counts. One is that his rethinking was stimulated directly by the need to rectify serious deficiencies he had come to recognize in the Essay. Second, this makes his later thought of more direct interest to today's study of population and development. Third, all three steps began in, and were sustained by, dialogue with Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations. The dialogue led to further thinking beyond the Essay, with major innovative developments. Comparison to the Smithian baseline shows (1) that the familiar stereotype of Malthus as prophet of population-laden disaster is seriously incomplete; and (2) capital distribution replaces population distribution as a mechanism of growth, inducing a radical change in the concept of population
Capital (architecture · Capital accumulation · Distribution (mathematics · Economic rent · Economics · Economy · Market economy · Neoclassical economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Population · Population growth · Positive economics · Sociology · Demography · Economic Theory and Policy · Historical Economic and Social Studies · History · Law · Political Economy and Marxism
Poverty, Progress, and Population
Fertility, Class and Gender in Britain, 1860–1940
Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Malthus's Total Population Theory
The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo
Theories of Value and Distribution since Adam Smith
Malthus as an Economist
Bringing Income Distribution in From the Cold
A History of the Theories of Production and Distribution in English Political Economy, from 1776 to 1848
Aristotle and Open Population Thinking
Adam Smith, the Division of Labor, and the Renewal of Population Heterogeneity
Corn and Crisis
Economic Sentiments
Reappraisal of "Malthus the Economist," 1933-97
Population theory-A long view
Population Malthus. His Life and Times
Demand Theories of the Fertility Transition
Fertility and Family Planning
The Works of Thomas Robert Malthus
Ricardo on Population
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |