IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ajecsc/v69y2010i4p1178-1205.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Law of Population and the Austrian School

Author

Listed:
  • Stephen P. Barrows

Abstract

There has been considerable debate within the social sciences about the consequences of rapid population growth. The law of population, as described by Thomas Robert Malthus, asserts that population growth is ultimately limited by the means of subsistence, and therefore preventive checks on population growth (e.g., voluntarily limiting the number of births) are necessary to avoid the grim prospect of inevitable human suffering when the means of subsistence cannot support the population. Economists, demographers, and other social scientists have produced volumes of exegesis on Malthus's work. This article assesses how representative economists of the Austrian School have interacted with Malthus's law of population.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen P. Barrows, 2010. "The Law of Population and the Austrian School," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(4), pages 1178-1205, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:69:y:2010:i:4:p:1178-1205
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2010.00740.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1536-7150.2010.00740.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1536-7150.2010.00740.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Murray N. Rothbard, 1995. "Economic Thought Before Adam Smith," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 377.
    2. Thornton Mark, 1998. "Richard Cantillon and the Origin of Economic Theory," Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Samuelson, Paul A, 1975. "The Optimum Growth Rate for Population," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 16(3), pages 531-538, October.
    4. James A. Brander, 2007. "Viewpoint: Sustainability: Malthus revisited?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(1), pages 1-38, February.
    5. repec:ucp:bkecon:9780226320670 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Malthus, Thomas Robert, 1798. "An Essay on the Principle of Population," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number malthus1798.
    7. Hayek, F. A., 2012. "The Trend of Economic Thinking," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226321363 edited by Bartley, III, W. W. & Kresge, Stephen, June.
    8. von Mises, Ludwig, 1957. "Theory and History," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, edition 1, number mises1957.
    9. Joseph J. Spengler, 1954. "Richard Cantillon: First of the Moderns. II," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(5), pages 406-406.
    10. Joseph J. Spengler, 1954. "Richard Cantillon: First of the Moderns. I," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 62(4), pages 281-281.
    11. Baumol, William J, 1983. "Marx and the Iron Law of Wages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(2), pages 303-308, May.
    12. Warren C. Robinson, 1964. "The Development of Modern Population Theory," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 375-375, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roy H Grieve, 2015. "Revisiting Cantillon's admirable theory of distribution and value - a misinterpretation corrected," Working Papers 1506, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    2. Thornton Mark, 1998. "Richard Cantillon and the Origin of Economic Theory," Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, March.
    3. Simon Bilo, 2018. "Lucas and Hume on Monetary Non-neutrality: A Tension between the Logic and the Technique of Economics," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 44(3), pages 364-380, June.
    4. Madsen, Jakob B. & Robertson, Peter E. & Ye, Longfeng, 2019. "Malthus was right: Explaining a millennium of stagnation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 51-68.
    5. Hülsmann Jörg Guido, 2001. "More on Cantillon as a Proto-Austrian," Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, De Gruyter, vol. 11(4), pages 1-13, December.
    6. Simon Bilo & Richard Wagner, 2015. "Neutral money: Historical fact or analytical artifact?," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 28(2), pages 139-150, June.
    7. Liggio Leonard P., 2003. "American Classical Liberalism and Religion: Religion, Reason and Economic Science," Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, De Gruyter, vol. 13(2), pages 1-19, June.
    8. Laurent Le Maux, 2014. "Cantillon And Hume On Money And Banking: The Foundations Of Two Theoretical Traditions," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 956-970, December.
    9. Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2017. "Optimal fertility under age-dependent labour productivity," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 621-646, April.
    10. Cervera-Ferri, Pablo & Insa-Sánchez, Pau, 2022. "Rareness in the intellectual origins of Walras’ theory of value," OSF Preprints 5nwcb, Center for Open Science.
    11. Calcagno, Peter T. & Hall, Joshua C. & Lawson, Robert A., 2010. "Objectivism versus subjectivism: A market test," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 445-448, November.
    12. James A. Brander, 2007. "Viewpoint: Sustainability: Malthus revisited?," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(1), pages 1-38, February.
    13. William D. Nordhaus, 2021. "Are We Approaching an Economic Singularity? Information Technology and the Future of Economic Growth," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 13(1), pages 299-332, January.
    14. Pérez-Sánchez, Laura & Velasco-Fernández, Raúl & Giampietro, Mario, 2021. "The international division of labor and embodied working time in trade for the US, the EU and China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    15. Vergés Josep C., 2000. "The Political Economy of the Just Price: What the School of Salamanca Has To Say in the Age of Corruption," Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, De Gruyter, vol. 10(2), pages 1-33, June.
    16. Viktor J. Vanberg, 2023. "Liberalism and democracy: legitimacy and institutional expediency," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 195(3), pages 251-268, June.
    17. Shubik, Martin, 1981. "Society, land, love or money : A strategic model of how to glue the generations together," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 359-385, December.
    18. David Lam, 2011. "How the World Survived the Population Bomb: Lessons From 50 Years of Extraordinary Demographic History," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 48(4), pages 1231-1262, November.
    19. J. Ignacio Conde-Ruiz & Eduardo L. Giménez & Mikel Pérez-Nievas, 2010. "Millian Efficiency with Endogenous Fertility," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 77(1), pages 154-187.
    20. Benson Bruce L., 2000. "Jurisdictional Choice in International Trade: Implications for Lex Cybernatoria," Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-30, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:69:y:2010:i:4:p:1178-1205. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0002-9246 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.