Malthus' theory of population. Economic doctrine T

The representative of English economic thought, Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834), paid considerable attention to the problems of cost and implementation. Having the rank of clergyman, he simultaneously taught at the college of Cambridge University, and from 1805 until the end of his life he held the position of professor of history and political economy at the college of the East India Company.

Malthus gained worldwide fame with his work “Essay on the Law of Population” (1798). He outlined his ideas in the field of political economy in his works “An Inquiry into the Nature and Increase of Rent” (1815) and “Principles of Political Economy Considered for Their Practical Application” (1820).

Malthus, unlike Say, did not ignore socio-economic contradictions, but tried to reveal their cause and conditions. This was manifested in his formulation of the law of population, which he interprets as eternal.

The population concept consists of three provisions:

1. a person's biological ability to procreate exceeds his physical ability to increase his food resources
2. Any restrictions on population growth - forced or precautionary - always apply
3. the final limit of the reproductive capacity of the population is determined by the limitation on food resources

Malthus confirms these theoretical positions with the help of progressions: geometric for population growth and arithmetic for food growth. An increase in food supply, in his opinion, is impossible, since the resources of the earth are limited, and technical improvement in agriculture going too slow. To prove this point, he cites the law of diminishing soil fertility. This law always operates, but it is hampered, according to Malthus, by certain conditions that restrain population growth (preventive and destructive). Poverty is a natural phenomenon, and people themselves are to blame for their suffering. However, it is overpopulation that gives rise to competition, leads to the growth of agriculture, and an increase in labor productivity - this is the conclusion of Malthus.

However, Malthus’ statistical calculations are based on data on the growth of the US population in the 16th – 18th centuries, which cannot be the basis for a general pattern of growth in the world’s population. As for the law of diminishing returns, its complete inconclusiveness and limitations were later proven.

In understanding value, Malthus relied on the works of A. Smith. In him one can find the determination of the value of goods by labor and the determination of value by the relationship between supply and demand. But he measures value by the labor purchased, by the amount of time for which a worker can be hired.

The proposed concept of measuring value served as a justification for the fact that labor is the source of only one part of the value of goods - the part corresponding to wages, i.e. separated profit from labor, considering it a premium to the cost of goods.

Malthus developed an original concept of implementation, which is fundamentally different from the theory of J.B. Say and D. Ricardo. Its essence is this: in a society consisting of capitalists and workers, profit cannot be realized, and this leads to general and constant overproduction and crises. The majority of consumers are workers who cannot buy back the products they produce, since their value exceeds the value of the wages paid (based on his theory of value). Difference between wages and the cost of production cannot be covered by the demand presented by the capitalists, since they have doomed themselves to frugality in order to save part of their income and accumulate luxury goods by depriving them of their usual comforts and pleasures. Consequently, overproduction of goods will exist as long as purchasing power is restrained by additional unproductive consumption on the part of the part of society not belonging to the capitalist and worker classes. As for the wages of workers, then, according to Malthus, its growth would not lead to an increase in their consumption, but to idleness.

Therefore, production requires expenses from profit and rent. These expenditures should be directed towards luxury goods and non-productive services (in particular, landlord consumption).

To mitigate the effects of crises and unemployment, Malthus proposed a program of public works, such as road construction, believing that they would not require any additional appropriations.

Subsequently, Malthus’s provisions and conclusions were subjected to very serious criticism, but it should be recognized that the main significance was in posing the very problem of the role of savings in the economy and refuting Say’s law of markets.

The nineteenth century gave humanity a new science - economics, the apologist of which was Adam Smith, who laid the theoretical foundation for dynamic economic and social changes. Socio-economic transformations began driving force progress of civilization, and this was perfectly shown in his scientific works by Thomas Malthus, who became one of the “troublemakers” in the world of the emerging economic theory that time. His work laid the foundation for much of the twentieth century's research, not just in economics. The works of this scientist became the idea on which the developers of some economic and social development programs in the region still rely. different countries peace.

Biography

The biography of Thomas Malthus is directly related to the period of great revolutionary transformations in Europe. He was born in an era of struggle against the old social structure, at the junction of two economic formations - feudalism and the emergence of bourgeois democracy. It was a difficult time when new economic relations began to manifest themselves in reality, sweeping away the foundations of society, changing views and modes of action. Old world did not give up, which gave rise to crises that inevitably led to violence in society.

Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) was the second son of a wealthy landowner, a follower of the revolutionary ideas of the Enlightenment. Daniel Malthus, an admirer of David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, with whom he communicated personally, considered the education of his son a very important matter. This circumstance determined the entire future fate of the future outstanding theorist of economic science, to whom the path of spiritual development was not alien. However, according to the tradition of the family and society, the youngest son was obliged to devote himself to the church and make a spiritual career.

Education and research

Malthus received higher education at Cambridge, studying mathematics and rhetoric, Latin and Greek at Jesus College, where he was subsequently for some time an associate professor and member of the council. Well, later he was ordained as a pastor of the Anglican Church and served in Albury, a small town in Surrey. He traveled extensively throughout Europe, primarily in France and Germany. In 1807 he became professor of political economy and history at the East India Company's Haileybury College in Hardfordshire, a position he held until his death.

Life and achievements

Throughout his life, the scientist lived very modestly, trying to devote all his efforts to scientific research. Despite the fact that he was elected a member of the Royal Society, and this is still a very honorable title in the world, and at the same time a member of the French Academy, he refused the high positions that the government of the country offered him. He also ignored his church career, although he gained a certain authority in the spiritual field. He was offered the position of vicar of Effingham in Surrey.

Thomas Malthus became one of the founders of the London and later the Royal Statistical Society and founded the Club of Political Economy.

The scientist was happily married and became the father of three children.

The main work of T. Malthus’s entire life

The economic views of Thomas Malthus were formed in desperate disputes with his father. His famous work “Essay on the Law of Population” was born while discussing the ideas of W. Godwin and the Marquis de Condorcet. This scientific work was published in 1768. Thomas Malthus's Essay on the Law of Population was received very negatively. Initially, the scientist made his conclusions based on erroneous statistics on population growth in North America. Although in this part of the planet the basis for population growth was emigration from European countries, and not natural reproduction. The scientist made some conclusions without relying on statistical data at all. Subsequently, Thomas Malthus took into account his mistakes and traveled extensively throughout Europe to obtain as much serious data as possible for his research. Therefore, new publications of his work followed, which already provided information closer to reality.

At that time, the so-called “optimistic” economic concept was adopted. According to which, population growth was considered a favorable factor for economic development, symbolizing the strength and high degree of development of the state. This theory has prevailed since antiquity. It was assumed that the well-being of the population is directly related to its growth. This was actively argued by both mercantilists and physiocrats. In general, the following was assumed: economic and technological progress will provide the population at each stage of its development with a sufficient amount of food resources.

Revolutionary ideas of T. Malthus

Thomas Malthus and his theory destroyed these benign ideas. In his work, he argued that population growth significantly exceeds the restoration and increase of food resources. He showed that there is a correlation between these two indicators. The reproduction of a population is directly affected by its ability to feed itself. It is this interdependence that is the cause of poverty among peoples, and not the state system or the uneven distribution of resources among different segments of society.

Thus, he argued that population growth does not at all contribute to the favorable development of the state.

The scientist was not an economist by training, however, he managed to challenge the existing theory of political economy, touch upon and even to a large extent refute its basic principles and, above all, the postulate of state non-intervention in the economy.

Population theory of T. Malthus

Thomas Malthus's law consisted of two statements. The first concerns the pattern of population growth, which in theory doubles every 25 years. In reality, this did not mean that the population should grow at exactly this rate, but the trend itself is taking place. Essentially, population growth occurs in geometric progression: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc., as Thomas Malthus believed.

The second statement states that food production growth increases only in an arithmetic progression - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc.

It is precisely this discrepancy between these two indicators that gives rise to all the problems of humanity - poverty, wars, epidemics. Because what is happening is what should happen according to the objective law of nature: self-regulation of population size. In the end, population growth approaches a certain limit, after which it begins to be restrained by objective problems arising in human society: hunger, wars, diseases.

What solution did T. Malthus propose?

Thomas Robert Malthus believed that there cannot be an ideal social system in which general prosperity reigns; by this he meant material wealth. Because there is always the threat of overpopulation and lack of resources to meet the basic needs of people. Nevertheless, with the development of civilization, people will be able to effectively counter this threat.

The scientist argued that society must bear moral responsibility, population growth must be controlled, and people must exercise restraint, refrain from marriage and the birth of “extra” children. The practice of using birth control by contraceptive methods was, of course, considered by the priest of the Anglican Church as an unworthy method and contrary to morality.

Theory and practice of T. Malthus's law

Testing the theory of Thomas Malthus in practice, however, received negative results. Malthus erroneously assumed that population reproduction was related solely to libidinal function.

However, in reality the reasons for population growth are much more complex. Often this depends on many factors, not only the strength of conviction or personal preferences are of serious importance here. His prediction of an exponential population increase has not stood the test of time.

The second part of the theory is based on the gradual decline in income from arable land. Although it was formulated by Turgot in 1768, it is still vaguely present in the statements of Thomas Malthus. In its revised form, this theory is called the law of diminishing returns of land.

Comparing a number of numbers proposed by Malthus regarding the reproduction of food, one can notice that the estimated growth rates according to arithmetic progression are also very controversial. Since such statistics will be correct only in theory. In practice, the conditions of technological progress are not taken into account. And Malthus's law will be true here only if the conditions for land management do not change.

Positive influence of T. Malthus's law

In other words, the teachings of Thomas Malthus completely do not work in practice. The first argument is incorrect, the second statement is correct only in theoretical statistical calculations. Nevertheless, the law had a major influence on the development of the science of economics itself and had a major influence on the formation of economic and sociological theory more generally in subsequent centuries. Economists began to conduct research on population changes, trying to identify certain patterns, which led to the creation of a new science - demography.

Population theory and the problem of wages

Thomas Malthus's population theory seriously influenced the development of that area of ​​classical economics that is associated with the problem of income distribution and wages. It became the basis for the theory of wages and the theory of ground rent proposed later by Ricardo. Malthus' demographic theory was used to interpret the existing differences in income between different segments of the population.

Today, the postulates of Malthus's theory can be considered unethical. Because it justifies the suffering of the working class by creating a false belief among the bourgeoisie that poverty is an inevitable necessity. And the fight against poverty is meaningless and ineffective. Equal distribution of national income between different social strata of society increases the rate of population reproduction and will ultimately lead to the fact that subsequent generations will face a threat to the existence of the human species in general. This thesis was later challenged by humanists.

Salary and cost of living

Malthus, however, went further in his work. He proposed rejecting the existing poor relief programs in England at that time, the so-called Poor Laws. He advocated the abolition of benefits for the impoverished sections of the population. Malthus considered the suffering of people to be natural, this is the fate of humanity. The position of the working class cannot be alleviated according to his theory. Perhaps this is why classical economics of the nineteenth century was indifferent to the problems of social policy.

Thomas Malthus believed that wages would always be determined by the living wage for the working class. In other words, the very minimum level that is necessary only to support the existence of the physical body. According to his postulate, if wages at some point exceed living wage, then, thanks to improved living conditions, population growth will begin. This, in turn, would increase food prices and reduce the real cost of wages. He outlined a kind of “vicious circle” from which there is supposedly no way out.

Biology and Population Theory

It is impossible not to notice that Malthus was an extremely versatile scientist. In presenting his ideas, he used, in addition to economic ones, concepts of various kinds - from natural philosophical to religious. Thomas Robert Malthus' contributions to biology

In justifying his theory of population, he turns to biological laws. We are talking about a certain concept of reproduction of plant and animal populations, which he formulated from his point of view. The scientist believed that the desire of living beings to reproduce faster than possible in conditions with limited food resources leads to disaster. Moreover, as Malthus believed, animals are not able to control their reproductive instinct, unlike humans.

Another idea expressed by him is the theory of invariably decreasing soil fertility. According to which humanity has to constantly increase both productivity and the area of ​​agricultural land. However, this resource is not unlimited, so sooner or later we will have to face the problem of a shortage of land suitable for growing food.

The ideas of T. Malthus created a chain reaction in the scientific world

These ideas had a rather strong impression on Charles Darwin, by his own admission. And they indirectly contributed to the creation of his theory. It can be stated that Thomas Robert Malthus made quite a significant contribution to biology.

In general, the influence of the scientific works of Thomas Malthus on the minds of outstanding scientists and theorists turned out to be very significant, despite the quite noticeable costs of his population theory. Including Karl Marx.

Today, neo-Malthusians embody their teacher's theory in the form of the birth control movement. An example is the family planning program promoted by well-known international organizations. Neoconservatives even proclaimed the theory of overpopulation of the planet as their fundamental principle for building a new world order. They believe that the Earth is able to feed and give good conditions for only a very small percentage of the planet's current 7 billion population to exist.

MALTHUS, THOMAS ROBERT(Malthus, Thomas Robert) (1766–1834), English economist. Born in Rookery near Dorking in Surrey on February 15 or 17, 1766. He received his primary education at home, under the supervision of his father, friend David Hume and admirer of J. J. Rousseau, and graduated from Jisas College, Cambridge University (1788). He was elected a member of the council of Jisas College in 1793 and ordained in 1797, taking up the parish in Albury (Surrey). In 1798 he published his work anonymously An Experience on the Law of Population(full title - An Essay on the Law of Population and its Influence on the Future Improvement of Society, with Notes on the Reflections of Mr. Godwin, Monsieur Condorcet, and Other Writers (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), which immediately made its author famous. This work grew out of discussions with his father regarding the ideas of the Marquis de Condorcet and W. Godwin. In 1803, the second, expanded edition of this work was published (the last sixth, also expanded, edition was published in 1826). After his marriage in 1804, Malthus took up the position of professor of history and political economy at the East India Company College at Haileybeer (Hertfordshire), where he worked until the end of his life, declining an invitation to become vicar of Effingham in Surrey. The beginning of his friendship with David Ricardo dates back to 1811. The publication of a number of treatises on economics by Malthus dates back to the same period, in particular Studies of the nature and growth of rent, as well as the principles governing it (An Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent, and the Principles by which it is Regulated, 1815); Grounds for the opinion regarding the ban on the import of foreign bread (Grounds of an Opinion on the Policy of Restricting the Importation of Foreign Corn, 1815).

In 1819 Malthus was elected a member of the Royal Society, and in 1833 - a member of the French Academy. In 1831 he founded the Political Economy Club, and in 1834 he contributed to the creation of the London (later Royal) Statistical Society. In 1820 his second significant work was published - Principles of political economy from the point of view of their practical application (Principles of Political Economy Considered with a View to Their Practical Application).

Malthus' ideas. During Malthus's era, an "optimistic" view of social development was adopted, and many economists were convinced that population growth was a beneficial process that ensured the power of the state. Malthus proposed a diametrically opposite approach: population growth is not always desirable, and this growth is faster than the growing ability to provide the population with food. In Malthus's original formulation, population increases in a geometric progression (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.) and food production increases in an arithmetic progression (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.) .). According to Malthus, it is this gap that is the cause of many social ills - poverty, famine, epidemics, wars. Subsequently, Malthus proposed a slightly different vision of the situation: population growth is constantly approaching the limit at which it can still exist, and is maintained at this level, because famine, war and disease begin.

In the second edition Experience Malthus proposed practical measures to combat the consequences of " natural law population" (refusal of low-income people to marry, adherence to strict moral standards before marriage, refusal of programs social assistance poor), but opposed birth control, believing that if married couples could easily limit the number of children, the primary incentive for socio-economic progress would be lost: people would lead an idle lifestyle and stagnation would set in in society. For the same reason, Malthus considered legal restrictions on marriage unacceptable. According to Malthus, the policy of encouraging emigration is also ineffective, since it can only be beneficial if people practice abstinence; otherwise, the outflow of population will be quickly compensated high level fertility. (Later, the idea of ​​birth control as a means of combating a disproportionate increase in population began to play a major role in the concept of so-called neo-Malthusianism.)

The second idea developed in the 20th century. in the works of the outstanding economist J.M. Keynes, the concept of the so-called. “effective demand”, according to which thrift or lack of means of subsistence is itself a barrier to economic growth, depriving incentives for production, and in the best possible way economic development is to establish the right balance between production and consumption; the latter must, like production, be regulated by means that create strong motives for increasing the level of consumer demand (primarily those segments of the population that today could be called the middle class).

Thomas Robert Malthus (English) Thomas Robert Malthus, he usually omitted his middle name; 1766-1834) - English priest and scientist, demographer and economist, author of the theory according to which uncontrolled population growth should lead to famine on Earth.

Thomas Malthus was born on February 13, 1766 on the Rookery estate, Dorking (English county of Surrey), near the city of Guildford, into a wealthy noble family. The scientist's father, Daniel Malthus, was a follower of David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (he knew both of them personally). In 1784, Thomas entered Jesus College, Oxford University, where he successfully studied mathematics, rhetoric, Latin and Greek. After graduating from college, he was a council member and adjunct professor for some time. In 1788, he was ordained into the clergy of the Anglican Church, which in those days did not even require formal belief in God. In 1796, he became a priest in the town of Albury (Surrey), in England at that time this meant only a government position with a modest salary and not particularly burdensome responsibilities. In 1804, Malthus married and three children were born in this marriage. Malthus died on December 23, 1834 and was buried in Bath Abbey. Throughout his life, Malthus lived very modestly, not to say poorly, but consistently and fundamentally refused both high government positions that the government offered him and a church career, considering it the main work of his life. scientific work. He was elected both a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of the French Academy (an honor given to few scientists), became the founder of the Political Economy Club and one of the founders of the London Statistical Society.

Scientific achievements

• Because of man's biological ability to procreate, his physical abilities are used to increase his food supply.
• The population is strictly limited by means of subsistence.
• Population growth can only be stopped by counter causes, which boil down to moral abstinence or misfortunes (wars, epidemics, famine).

Malthus also comes to the conclusion that population grows in geometric progression, and means of subsistence - in arithmetic progression.

Disadvantages of the theory from a modern point of view:

• Malthus used incorrect migration statistics (does not take into account emigrants).
• Malthus does not take into account the mechanisms of self-regulation of the human population, leading to the demographic transition. However, in Malthus's time this phenomenon was observed only in large cities where a minority of the population lived, whereas today it has spread to entire continents (including all developed countries without exception).
• Law of diminishing soil fertility. Malthus believed that neither capital accumulation nor scientific and technological progress compensate for the limited nature of natural resources.

At the same time, Malthus's theory quite correctly describes the patterns of economic and demographic dynamics of pre-industrial societies.

Malthus's ideas had a powerful positive impact on the development of biology, firstly, through their influence on Darwin, and, secondly, through the development on their basis of mathematical models of population biology, starting with the Verhulst logistic model.

Applied to human society, Malthus's view that a decrease in population leads to an increase in average per capita income led to the formation in the 1920s of the theory of optimal population size, at which per capita income is maximized. However, at present, the theory is of little use in solving real socio-economic problems, but it is good in analytics, as it allows one to judge under- or overpopulation.

Modern followers of Malthus, neo-Malthusians, say this about modern underdeveloped countries: “The birth rate in them is high, as in agricultural countries, and the mortality rate is low, as in industrial countries due to medical care more developed countries." They believe that before helping them, the problem of birth control must be solved.

In general, Malthus's theory has demonstrated its high explanatory power in relation to pre-industrial societies, although no one questions the fact that it cannot be used effectively to explain the dynamics modern society(even in Third World countries), it needs the most serious modifications; however, on the other hand, Malthus's theory demonstrated the highest ability to adapt to such modifications and integrate into them.

Malthus's ideas were partially used by Karl Haushofer in his work on geopolitics and the theory of "living space".

Scientific works

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An outstanding representative of classical political economy in England was Thomas Malthus (1766-1834). He was born into a noble family, but as the youngest son he could not count on an inheritance and therefore he was destined for a spiritual career. After graduating from college at Cambridge University, he worked as a village priest, and from 1793, after receiving a theological degree, he was also a teacher at this college. There his interest in philosophy and political economy manifested itself.

The work of this extraordinary researcher dates back to the first quarter of the 19th century, but the results of His scientific research are also valuable for modern economic science.

First job Malthus - "An Essay on the Law of Population in Connection with the Future Improvement of Society" (1798), where he outlined some of his views on the patterns and interdependence of economic and demographic processes, was published by him anonymously. It caused a stormy, mostly negative reaction, and was attacked by many scientists, politicians, and public figures. In particular, Malthus' contemporary writer Thomas Carlyle. After reading it, he called economics a “dismal science.” To improve his work, Malthus toured European countries in 1799-1802, and after some time (in 1803) he prepared a second, revised edition of his book, this time under his own name. During his life, several more reprints of this sling were made, which from a small pamphlet turned into a considerable treatise, and turned its author into an odious person.

In addition to the "Essay", which made its author famous and even famous, T. Malthus wrote several more significant works, among which it is necessary to highlight "A Study on Nature and the Rise of Land Rent" (1815), "Theoretical basis policy of restricting the import of foreign grain" (1815), "The Concept of Political Economy" (1827). However, the main work of the scientist was "Principles of Political Economy Considered in Relation to Their Application" (1820). Malthus was considered by his contemporaries to be an outstanding economist for his studies of many fundamental problems of economic theory. However, he entered the history of economic thought primarily as the author of the theory of population.

The work “An Essay on the Law of Population in Connection with the Future Improvement of Society” was devoted to criticism of the utopian theories of the socialist Godwin and one of the ideologists of the French bourgeois revolution, Condorcet, which proved the possibility of building a society of ideal equality, subject to state intervention in the distribution of public income.

Malthus views social development in the interaction and interdependence of economic and natural factors. He also includes population as natural factors, the influence of which on the stability of social development is considered in his work. Population theory refuted the idea of ​​​​the possibility of improving society with the help of social legislation and regulatory intervention of the state, and also created the prerequisites for the development of a number of economic and social doctrines. The founders of classical economic theory (Petty, Smith) saw the growth of the working-age population as a prerequisite for the country's wealth. Malthus does not deny that a large population is one of the conditions for wealth, but at the same time he sees the downside of population growth.

He proceeded from the following basic principles:

1) society is in an equilibrium state when it produces a sufficient amount of food for the consumption of the corresponding population;

2) in the event of a violation of this balance in society, forces arise that return it to an equilibrium state;

3) prices of all goods are determined by the relationship between supply and demand;

4) there is a law of population, according to which both population and food grow indefinitely in the absence of obstacles, but the rate of population growth is higher than the rate of growth of food products.

In particular, under favorable circumstances, the population will grow in geometric progression (1, 2,4,8,16, 32,64, etc.), and food production - in arithmetic progression (1,2,3,4, 5, 6, 7,8, etc.). It follows that if the population doubles every 20-25 years, then food production during the same period increases by only 20-25%. As a result, after two centuries the number of population will be related to means of subsistence as 256 to 9, after three centuries - as 4096 to N.

It was in overpopulation that the English pastor saw the main reason for the growth of debauchery, disease, poverty, hunger and unemployment and other ills of society. “Because of overpopulation,” wrote Malthus, “poverty may become the miserable and bitter fate of all mankind.” This book is therefore an analysis of how to achieve the desired balance between population and sufficient food production.

Malthus agreed with Smith that the growth of wealth could occur without limit, but emphasized that a brake on this process could be faster population growth. He did not object to population growth, but proposed “to establish a relationship between population and food that would not cause a struggle between them.” That is, he proves that population growth is self-regulated primarily by the limited means of subsistence. As soon as the quantity of these funds increases, the population also increases, unless extraordinary circumstances prevent this increase. He considers extraordinary moral obstacles, vices and misfortunes that do not have an objective economic nature, but which, in turn, can be a consequence of excessive population growth. We are talking about achieving a state of economic equilibrium in society.

It was the methods and means of achieving economic equilibrium that determined the essence of his law of population. It was based on two components:

The biological ability of a person to procreate, which he considered a natural instinct;

Action law of diminishing returns land.

Malthus noted that the natural passion for rapid reproduction collided with the law of diminishing fertility of the earth and, as a consequence, with limited resources for the production of consumer goods. This explains the poverty and suffering of the people. Therefore, to maintain balance, it is necessary that reproduction be constantly delayed. In primitive societies this was achieved through disease, famine and war, and in a market society through wage regulation and “moral control” of the birth rate. Wage regulation occurs automatically in the sense that excessive population growth reduces wages and thereby limits population growth in the next generation. On the contrary, rising wages lead to population growth and thereby to increased poverty in the next generation. In particular, a rich harvest will lead to the following famine: “abundance, by encouraging marriages, creates a surplus in the population, whose needs can no longer be satisfied with the harvest of an ordinary year.”

Malthus believed that a person who is not able to feed his family should postpone his marriage, and if such readiness never comes, abandon it altogether. He often repeated that attempts to overcome poverty through government subsidies or private charity could only hinder everyone's ability to take care of themselves. None of the able-bodied masses has “the right to food if he cannot feed himself by his own labor.” At the same time, a poor person cannot encroach on the property of the rich, because private property is necessary for increasing the production of consumer goods and thereby improving the situation of the poor.

The British scientist condemned the division of society into the very rich and the very poor, but he understood that social equality of people was impossible. Therefore, he considered the basis for population growth without poverty to be the growth of production and the “middle class,” which should become the basis of society. “It is not the excessive luxuries of a small number of people, but the moderate luxuries of all classes of society,” Malthus emphasized, “that constitute the wealth and well-being of the people.” At the same time, according to Malthus, there should be moderate social inequality in society. “If we take away from a person the hope of advancement and the danger of decline, then there would not be those zeal and zeal that force every person to improve his situation and which are the main engine of social well-being,” the scientist reasonably noted.

To summarize, we note that Malthus’s ideas are, in principle, fair and relevant. The Briton's scientific foresight was subsequently confirmed, although, fortunately, his gloomy predictions did not come true. This is explained by Malthus’s ignorance of scientific and technological progress, which turned out to be capable of significantly increasing labor productivity, in particular in agriculture.

This system of views on population is called in economics Malthusianism. Modern proponents of Malthus' population theory are called neo-Malthusians.

Population theory gave rise to fair accusations of pessimism, but for Malthus it became the basis for a thorough study of various interrelated economic problems.

The theory of wages, which stemmed from his law of population, occupied an important role in T. Malthus’s economic system. He determined the salary minimum cost of existence worker. But the scientist noted that this minimum differs significantly in different countries. In England, the workers' diet is based on wheat, while in Ireland it is potatoes, Malthus gives as an example. - Since the market price of wheat is higher than the market price of potatoes, the wages of the English worker are higher than the Irish, the result of which is “Irish hovels and rags.”

Malthus especially distinguishes not the nominal, but real wages which he determined the price of food. Therefore, he believed that poverty could not be overcome with monetary assistance, since the shortage of a certain product would lead to increased prices for it. When there is a shortage of food, compared with the population, it makes absolutely no difference what kind of financial assistance the lower classes will receive - “two shillings or five.”

Malthus opposed the law on relief to the poor, since it leads to equalization of income: “Equality does not create a sufficiently strong motive for work and does not contribute to the victory over natural laziness... Poverty is inevitable, to which any system of equality must very quickly lead... “- the Englishman asserted, not without reason. It follows from this that only the minimum wage level will ensure the optimal proportion between population growth and increased production of consumer goods. That's the point wage law T. Malthus, Therefore, wages in society cannot grow, remaining invariably at a low level.

The most fruitful theoretical legacy of the English pastor was theory of production costs. With Smith's dualistic interpretation of value, Malthus rejects the great Scotsman's thesis that value is created only by labor, and adheres to another thesis of his teacher - the value of a product is determined by the costs of its production. It is on this statement that Malthus’s theory of production costs is built, which was subsequently positively received by most Western economists. Among its supporters was an outstanding British economist of the 20th century. J. M. Keynes.

Quite controversial, based on the theory of production costs, was Malthus’s interpretation of arrived, which he defined as an excess of value over production losses, which arises not in production, as Smith and Ricardo argued, but in turnover - when goods are sold at prices exceeding production costs. This peculiar and very dubious approach led Malthus to the need to formulate his own implementation theory. after all, it was necessary to explain the problem of the full sale of the produced product, which is not possible with such an interpretation of profit.

The scientist reasoned, What Due to low wages, wage workers are not able to purchase all the goods produced, so other groups of the population must be involved in their sale. A large amount of products is consumed by the capitalists themselves, but the amount of unproductive consumption is limited by the capitalist’s desire to accumulate and expand production. The problem of selling surplus, according to Malthus, is solved by the growth of unproductive consumption of so-called “third parties”, to which he includes consumers who do not participate in the production of goods, but receive income, for example, landowners and their servants, traders, officers, priests and the like . The most unproductive consumption of non-virulent classes in society, in his opinion, is the basis for ensuring demand and stability of economic development.

Only under this condition will the entire product in which the profit is embodied be purchased. This dubious and poorly substantiated thesis unexpectedly led Malthus to a brilliant statement, appreciated much later by Keynes. He argued, again denying Smith, that there is another limit to the growth of capital (the first line, we recall, was considered overpopulation of the country) - insufficient demand for goods. “To capitalize income when there is no sufficient demand for products,” Malthus wrote, “is just as absurd as it is absurd to encourage marriages and reproduction of the population when there is no demand for labor and no fund to feed the new population.”

With this statement, Malthus questioned the seemingly indisputable thesis of his predecessors and contemporaries, the creators of classical political economy, that the source of wealth growth is frugality, and production should always exceed consumption. Generally agreeing with these conclusions, he noted that excessive frugality undermines incentives for production: “If everyone were content with simple food, the most modest clothing and housing, then, obviously, no other types of food, clothing and housing would exist.. ".

In modern economic literature, Malthus is called the scientist who, centuries earlier than Keynes, discovered the law of effective demand, based on the definition of limited resources in society. “If Malthus, and not Ricardo, had been the founder of political economy of the 19th century,” Keynes himself wrote, “how much wiser and richer the world would be today.”

Malthus's contribution to the formation of law of diminishing returns of resources, which refers to the triad of fundamental economic laws, which also includes the law of supply and demand and the law of diminishing returns. Its essence lies in the fact that each additional increase in one of the production resources - capital, labor or land - with a constant amount of others from a certain moment leads to a decrease in the increase in the produced product.

He vividly illustrated the effect of this law by analyzing soil fertility, in particular in his work “A Study on Nature and the Growth of Rent.” This analysis gave grounds to formulate law of decline in soil fertility. Its essence lies in the fact that the basis for the production of consumer products is the availability of land resources, land fertility and labor productivity in agriculture. Since there is a limited number of land plots with a sufficient level of soil fertility, under the pressure of a growing population, lands with low level recoil. The expenditure of capital on cultivating such lands into less productive ones, and subsequent additional expenditures of capital lead to a decrease in their return, that is, there is a relative decrease in their productivity. Consequently, labor productivity in agriculture has not only a physical limit, as a consequence of the potential inherent in the land, but also an economic limit, which leads to an increase in prices for agricultural products.

As a result, a difference in income is formed on lands of unequal fertility, which became the basis of land rent. Malthus pays special attention to the analysis differential rent, which, according to the scientist, arises in connection with the transition to the cultivation of inferior lands, which is a consequence of population growth. Investigating the nature of rent, the scientist understands that it also arises as a result of economic activity, that is, additional capital investments for the purpose of artificially improving soil quality (we are talking about differential rent ). However, the efficiency of using capital in agriculture also has its limit, since according to the law of diminishing returns of resources, each subsequent investment of capital gives less return than the previous one, the increase in soil fertility relative to the increase in investment decreases.

The law of diminishing returns shows that increasing returns of resources, that is, an increase in their beneficial effect, is possible only if they are qualitatively improved and the efficiency of their use increases. However, this conclusion was made by the followers of Malthus much later.