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Smith or Malthus? A Sea‐Change in the Concept of a Population

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  • Philip Kreager

Abstract

This two‐part article offers a critical appreciation of Malthus's political economy of population to mark the bi‐centenary of his Principles 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.

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  • Philip Kreager, 2022. "Smith or Malthus? A Sea‐Change in the Concept of a Population," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 48(3), pages 645-688, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:popdev:v:48:y:2022:i:3:p:645-688
    DOI: 10.1111/padr.12488
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Joseph Stiglitz & Jean-Paul Fitoussi & Martine Durand, 2018. "For Good Measure," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03393118, HAL.
    2. Philip Kreager, 2017. "Adam Smith, the Division of Labor, and the Renewal of Population Heterogeneity," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 43(3), pages 513-539, September.
    3. Wrigley,E. A., 2016. "The Path to Sustained Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781316504284.
    4. Wrigley,E. A., 2016. "The Path to Sustained Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107135710.
    5. E. A. Wrigley, 1999. "Corn and Crisis: Malthus on the High Price of Provisions," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 25(1), pages 121-128, March.
    6. Joseph E Stiglitz, 2018. "Where modern macroeconomics went wrong," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 34(1-2), pages 70-106.
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