Some historical context on Malthus: An Enlightenment philosopher, lived in England Influenced by logical, scientific thinking of the Industrial Revolution Was concerned with the problem of over population in England

Graph arithmetic growth Graph geometric growth

Malthus observed that food production grows arithmetically, while population grows exponentially.

Once a population has exceeded its carrying capacity a die back occurs. What are things that cause a die back? How can a die back be prevented, according to Malthus?

Malthus theorized that the “dieback” would come in the form of war, disease, starvation, infanticide, etc. Do you think Malthus was proven right or wrong by history? Did birth rates stay high forever, and was population only checked by a die back?

What things can increase the level of the homeostatic plateau?

For two reasons. The first reason: People eventually decrease their fertility in response to industrialization. Children are no longer assets after families leave the farm, so there is no incentive to have more children. Unless you count “love” as an incentive, which turns out to be much less motivating than money. Women also, for physical, financial, and personal reasons, tend to insist on having less children when they are educated and in a position to make demands in their spousal relationships.

The second reason: the Boserup Hypothesis It was observed by researchers that as population increased in the Amazon rainforest among rural inhabitants, there was not a die back in the population. Rather, communities practiced slash and burn agriculture over a wider swath of the amazon rainforest, generating more food. As human population has grown, humans have not died off but instead have become more resourceful. As our population grows, our food is worth more money because there is a bigger market of buyers, which incentivizes humans to come up with more efficient and technologically innovative farming techniques.

So, even though Malthus was wrong, countries still adopted his policies They think overpopulation is a CAUSE of poverty instead of a result Most notable: China and India China’s One Child Policy Indira Gandhi’s Emergency

Religious objections: Africa, the Middle East, many Muslims and Christians opposed to all birth restrictions, have culture that values large families Ideological Objections: Mao’s China believed that population size correlated to power. Some believe that class structure hinders development, not population. Cornucopians: People are the resource, not food! (Boserup)

The Cairo Plan Trust women to make their own family planning decisions Make all resources available, but do not include an element of force Educate women and improve healthcare to delay age of motherhood Increase access to satellite TV and internet where information is freely available and a culture of small families prevails

Will Malthus be proven correct in the future? Will we finally exceed carrying capacity and experience a die back?