ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the idea of overpopulation in rural societies. The view that population growth can only have adverse consequences for society is closely associated with Thomas Malthus. The optimum population with given resources, technology and capital is JK which maximizes output per head. At population JK marginal product equals average output per head and thereafter with a greater population output per head declines and marginal product falls below average output. The method of defining rural overpopulation may be called the consumption approach. Carrying capacity is defined as the maximum number that an area can sustain at a given subsistence level without the onset of land degradation. In the thirteenth century, the sixteenth century and in the late eighteenth century the demand for food outran supply in Europe as population grew rapidly, and this was expressed in rising food prices. Free trade between Britain and Ireland had destroyed the incipient Irish industries, and prevented the possibility of rural-urban migration.
