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An Essay on the Principle of Population

T. R. Malthus

  • Essays
  • Book language: English
  • 129 pages

An Essay on the Principle of Population is T. R. Malthus's 1798 essay on population growth and food supply. It argues that population tends to outpace subsistence unless checked, and examines the consequences for social improvement, responding to writers such as Godwin and Condorcet. Listen for its clear argument on a question that still shapes economics and demography.

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Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.

Opening of the book

An Essay on the Principle of
Population
Thomas Malthus
1798
AN ESSAY ON THE PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION, AS IT AFFECTS THE
FUTURE IMPROVEMENT OF SOCIETY WITH REMARKS ON THE
SPECULATIONS OF MR. GODWIN, M. CONDORCET, AND OTHER
WRITERS.
LONDON, PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, IN ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD,
1798.
Preface
The following Essay owes its origin to a conversation
with a friend, on the subject of Mr Godwin's essay on
avarice and profusion, in his Enquirer. The discussion
started the general question of the future improvement of
society, and the Author at first sat down with an
intention of merely stating his thoughts to his friend,
upon paper, in a clearer manner than he thought he could
do in conversation. But as the subject opened upon him,
some ideas occurred, which he did not recollect to have
met with before; and as he conceived that every least

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Contents

  1. An Essay on the Principle of Population
  2. Thomas Malthus
  3. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE

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