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'''Robert Malthus''' (born Thomas Robert Malthus, 1766-1834) was a [[British]] demographer and economist best known for his gloomy prediction that population growth would always outstrip food supply. He warned in 1798 that unless population growth was controlled the world's population would grow faster than the food supply and mass starvation would result.  

'''Robert Malthus''' (born Thomas Robert Malthus, 1766-1834) was a [[British]] demographer and economist best known for his gloomy prediction that population growth would always outstrip food supply. He warned in 1798 that unless population growth was controlled the world's population would grow faster than the food supply and mass starvation would result. His population theory infamously inspired the atheist [[Charles Darwin]]'s [[Theory of Evolution]].  He wrote, "In October 1838... I happened to read for amusement Malthus on Population... it at once struck me that under these circumstances favorable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavorable ones to be destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of new species."

[[Image:Malthus.jpg|thumb|250px| Robert Malthus, after portrait by John Linnell, 1833]]

==Career==

==Career==

==Policy Implications==

==Policy Implications==

see [[Malthusianism]]

See [[Malthusianism]]

After 1800 Malthus' concern was now no longer solely with the theoretical approach to demography but equally with the questions of policy. The "principle of population"--the capacity of population to grow faster than subsistence--was a "natural law"; but its negative effects might be removed or relieved by appropriate social and individual action.  Society should abolish practices, he argued, such as the [[poor law]], which encouraged the poor to marry on an income which could not support a family. Such encouragement merely resulted in a further increase in numbers and a further depression of the standard of living. And individuals should practice "moral restraint." They should postpone marriage until they could afford to maintain a family. Before marriage, conduct should be strictly moral; in marriage itself there should be no artificial checks on family size.   

After 1800 Malthus' concern was now no longer solely with the theoretical approach to demography but equally with the questions of policy. The "principle of population"--the capacity of population to grow faster than subsistence--was a "natural law"; but its negative effects might be removed or relieved by appropriate social and individual action.  Society should abolish practices, he argued, such as the [[poor law]], which encouraged the poor to marry on an income which could not support a family. Such encouragement merely resulted in a further increase in numbers and a further depression of the standard of living. And individuals should practice "moral restraint." They should postpone marriage until they could afford to maintain a family. Before marriage, conduct should be strictly moral; in marriage itself there should be no artificial checks on family size.