Thomas Malthus and J. B. Say: The political economy of population behavior and aggregate demand

The economic thought of the first half of the nineteenth century was very much the product of the problems that beset England and, to a lesser degree, France, after the Napoleonic wars came to an end in 1815. While England was relatively prosperous during this lengthy and expensive struggle, the end of the war was accompanied by severe economic depression. Widespread unemployment and high food prices encouraged a re-examination of the usefulness of restoring the Corn Laws as a possible corrective policy.