Question

Using a diagram, outline the ‘Malthusian Trap’ theory. Explain your reasoning why you agree or disagree with Malthus’s theory.

Answer 1

'Malthusian Trap Theory' was introduced by Robert Malthus in his essay titled'An Essay On The Principle Of Population' in 1798.According to this theory Malthus pointed out that the food production expands linearly and the population grows exponentially. Thus according to these concept of Malthusian trap when there is technological advancements and greater food production it will lead more than proportionate increase in the population growth.The population growth is more than the food production and thus it will result in shortage of food and will lead to crisis and famine in the economy.

This theory is explained with the diagram give above.The red line shown in the figure shows the exponential growth of the population and green line shows the linear growth of food production.Point A in the diagram represents the Mthusian trap or Malthusian Catastrophe.From the figure it is clear that the growth of population is higher that the food production.Thus the exponential growth will outpace the agricultural production and it will lead to famine.

In my opinion I am against the malthusian theory.Malthus argued that increase in population will outset the agricultural production and it will result in crisis in the economy.But in reality such crisis has not occured .In reality due to technological advancements it has lead to increase in the production of food grains along with the increase in the population .This can be explained by taking the example of Western Europe.In Western Europe the population was growing rapidly and at the same time food supply also increased due to technological advancement and didn't result in a crisis as mentioned by Malthus.Due to globalization the food production has increased efficiently .Another criticism fo Malthus theory is that Malthus didn't provide any calculation for the geometric and arithmetic increase of population and food.