ABSTRACT
Thomas Malthus was an economist and is still well known today for his influential theory on the links between population growth and resources, which has come to be known as Malthusianism. Malthus was from a wealthy family and was educated at home by his father, an academic and close friend of philosophers David Hume and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. On the Principle of Population was effectively an extended pamphlet and its brevity succeeded in giving his arguments a quick and widespread impact. Malthus then followed up this short work of 1798 with a much more extensive second edition in 1803 utilizing more supporting data. Malthus advocated taking steps to check population growth, such as promoting sexual abstinence and having marriages later in life. Malthus took up a position as professor of history and political economy at the East India Company College at Haileybury, Hertfordshire, in 1805 and remained there for the rest of his working life.
