Introduction and Overview

In a controversial book, first published in 1798, Thomas Malthus postulated the prospects of a geometrically increasing population outstripping the limited natural resources of the earth. The subsequent turn of events in the wake of the industrial revolution, proved his analysis to be overly pessimistic. Nevertheless, the Malthusian spectre, in one form or another, has continued to be a source of concern and disagreement since then. ¹ Over time Malthus’ original emphasis on the availability of agricultural land has been expanded to include, among other things, the availability of exhaustible resources such as fossil fuels and mineral deposits. The latter issue has been a subject of vigorous debate between the economists and the conservationists for the past few years.