Question

Discuss the Malthusian theory on population growth. Do you think it is applicable in the 21st Century? Why/why not? [PLEASE ANSWER THIS STEP BY STEP AND DO NOT WRITE BUT TYPE THE ANSWER

Answer 1

The Malthusian theory on population growth has been historically named after Thomas Robert Malthus, who was a British cleric, philosopher, and scholastic personality during the 18th century. The Malthusian theory of population was formally published in 1798 in one of his books entitled "An essay on the principles of Population". His theory of population growth fundamentally signifies at the growth rate of population and the food supply in the world and basically points out the mathematical relationship between both the phenomenon with a primary emphasis on the adequate supply of food to all respective sections of the population without any shortage. It ideally points out the fundamental concern of Economics, as a formally recognized academic discipline, which is the optimal or desirable utilization of resources or endowments based on the ever-increasing needs and demands of people in general. This has remained the basic argumentative premise of the scarcity definition of Economics, as formulated by Lionell Robbins and other proponents of the same concept or idea. Now, practically or evidently both the scarcity of resources and ever-increasing needs and demands for those resources can arise from unrestrained population growth, as many of the resources and endowments in this world are actually finite or subject to depletion and uninhibited population rise also entails the expansion of demand for these concerned resources or endowments. Therefore, optimal or reasonable utilization of the finite or non-renewable resources is imperative to conserve them considering the exponential growth of the population as opposed to the relatively slower growth rate of the concerned resources.  In the context of Malthusian conception of population growth, food can be practically considered as a major resource in this world and compared to the rate of population growth, it grows at relatively slower which leads to the shortage of food supply and various socioeconomic issues pertaining to hunger and undernutrition. Based on this basic assertion of the Malthusian theory of population growth, there are certain important points that are presented below:-

1) Growth Rate of Population and Food Supply

As observed and advocated by Malthus, the population basically grows at a geometric progression from a purely mathematical point of view. It basically signifies that in a sequence or series of numbers, each of the next numbers can be obtained by multiplying the previous number with a certain non-zero number which is called common ratio. On the other hand, as observed by Malthus, the food supply mathematically grows at an arithmetic progression, implying that in a particular series or sequence of numbers, the difference between the numbers would be a fixed number. By demonstrating the difference between the mathematical growth rate of the population and food supply growth, he established that population exponentially grows at a faster rate than the food supply, which again leads to the main problem of food shortage.

2) Putting Population Under Control

As stated previously, a relatively higher population growth compared to the food supply growth would potentially lead to a massive and widespread problem of hunger and undernourishment leading to starvation and death. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative to bring down the population level at a sustainable stage by implementing appropriate positive and preventive checks. The positive checks generally refer to natural and man-made disasters or calamities such as earthquakes, floods, famines incidence of diseases and epidemics and so on which would eventually reduce the existing population level. The preventive measures imply the checks and balances to control population growth such as birth control, proper family planning, late marriages, and so forth. Preventive measures can be enforced directly through human interventions or appropriate government policies.

Malthus further argued that any attempt to enhance overall food production through the deployment of advanced and progressive technological inputs or equipment will ultimately lead to higher population growth. This would again cause potential food shortages as the agricultural lands previously used for producing or cultivating food would be converted into residential plots to accommodate the growing population due to technological advancement. This phenomenon has been commonly known as the Malthusian Trap or Malthusian Population Trap under the Malthusian theory of population growth. However, many of the independent academic scholars and active critics of the Malthusian population theory has criticized it based on certain practical components or factors. Many of these factors or disputive components have been evidently observable in the context of more contemporary trends and patterns in the population and food production growth rates. Some of these factors have been discussed further in the below section.

1) Population and Food Supply Growth in Modern Times

It has been widely observed, especially in western countries such as in European nations, the United States, Canada, etc that massive technological advancements and progression in the agricultural sector have tremendously increased the overall food productivity without much undesirable repercussions on the growth of the population level. In many of these countries, food production has increased dramatically compared to the population growth which has considerably mitigated many of the issues or problems generated by food shortages such as chronic hunger, undernutrition, widespread deaths due to starvation, and so forth, as predicted by Malthus. Hence, on the contrary to what had been conceived by Malthus, technological intervention to enhance overall food productivity and supply has not evidently contributed to significant population growth and residential conversion of the former agricultural lands, at least in most of the western countries. As a matter of fact, in many of these nations, the growth rate of the food supply has surpassed the population growth rate in the last few decades. As an example, due to technological advancement in the food and agricultural sector, presently in the United States, approximately 2% of the overall population is employed in the agricultural sector and the total GDP of the country is roughly over $14 trillion in comparison to 25% workforce in the agricultural sector and an overall GDP of less than $100 billion in 1930.

2) Rise in International Trade

As the export and import of agricultural and food commodities have increased remarkably in the international market involving almost all the respective countries, the problem of global food shortage has been possible to be controlled or mitigated to a considerable extent. Especially, many of the developing and underdeveloped countries can now have consistent access to various food commodities through importation from other developed nations and vise versa. Hence, free and uninhibited international trading of food commodities or products in contemporary times has enhanced the global mobility of food thereby, ensuring adequate food supply to feed a major portion of the global population despite disparate population growth rates across the world.

3) Advanced Cultivation and Cropping Techniques

The entire process or mechanism of agricultural production has experienced a massive and intensive revolution. With the rapid growth and accessibility of various technologically advanced machinery and equipment, mechanized irrigation facilities, and appropriate economic and infrastructural support to the farmers worldwide has also enhanced the global agricultural productivity to a remarkable extent. Many of the landholding farmers in both the developed and developing countries can now engage in mechanized and sustainable cultivation techniques or methods such as multi-cropping, sharecropping, higher yield generation, and so forth which has essentially contributed to the much higher food supply in the world in a relatively cost-effective way. This has evidently accelerated the growth rate of food production and supply around the world compared to the population growth rate which was not registered by Malthus during his time. For the most part, such   innovative cultivation or productive techniques in agriculture was largely unattained during Malthusian era.

  Reference

https://www.intelligenteconomist.com/malthusian-theory/