ABSTRACT
This book, first published in 1951, focuses on the hitherto ignored contemporary critics of Malthus, giving them the attention they so rightly deserve.
Dr Smith traces the Malthusian controversy step by step, from 1798, the date of the First Essay, to the death of Malthus in 1834. Investigating the precursors of Malthus and the genesis of the Malthusian Theory of Population, the book subjects the theory to a searching analysis in the light of not only contemporary criticism, but also subsequent developments and modern ideas. In addition, the book examines the application of the theory to the doctrine of perfectibility, to wages, to the poor laws, to emigration, and to the birth control movement.
Fully annotated and written in an easy style, this work is indispensable to serious students of both population problems and the development of economic thought. Broad in scope, The Malthusian Controversy presents a new perspective on the most urgent of modern issues, the problem of world population.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part 1|43 pages
Book One: Introductory
part 1|30 pages
The Origins Of The Theory
part 2|11 pages
The Theory is Launched
part 2|162 pages
The Development of the Controversy
part 1|35 pages
The Earlier Critics – 1803 to 1815
part 2|38 pages
Post-War Critics—Gray, Weyland, Grahame, and Ensor
part 3|22 pages
Cobbett, Godwin, and Booth
part 4|28 pages
Ravenstone, Place, Everett, and Thompson, 1821–1824
part 5|10 pages
Malthus: A Summary View
part 6|10 pages
Nassau William Senior
part 7|8 pages
Michael Thomas Sadler
part 8|9 pages
Thomas Rowe Edmonds and W. F. Lloyd
part 3|65 pages
Critical Analysis
part 1|15 pages
The Growth of Population
part 2|9 pages
The Growth of Subsistence
part 3|10 pages
The Ratios
part 4|12 pages
The Checks
part 5|17 pages
The Illustrations and Proofs
part 4|51 pages
The Application of the Theory
part 1|9 pages
Application to Perfectibility
part 2|6 pages
Application to Wages
part 3|16 pages
Application to the Poor Laws
part 4|10 pages
Application to Emigration
part 5|8 pages
Birth Control