malthus

• FPO

  Factor: Agricultural supply grew in a linear rate, Whereas population grew at an exponential rate 

  Process: This would mean that the population will exceed the limits to agricultural production at some point

  Outcome: Leads to starvation and deprivation, which would result in human misery that then limits population growth. Human population would then continue at that limit (malthusian limit) but not be able to exceed it unless food production/ resources increases
• what Malthus thought

  • Malthus presumed that resources (eg. land and its productivity) was fixed by nature 
  • Technology and the environment were seen as independent variables (did not influence each other) than that determined the extent to which population could grow 
  • The innovations from the industrial revolution could extend the amount of resources, but it would be inevitable that population would once again reach its peak, and that checks on population growth in the form of hunger, diseases and war would once again control population growth 
• criticism ( did not consider birth control)

  Limit population increase
• criticism (Did not account for technological improvements)

  • Such as the Green Revolution that begun from 1930s through to the 1960s, which improved agricultural productivity
• criticism (Did not consider other causes of starvation or poverty)

  • Such as socio-economic and geopolitical reasons for impaired distribution of resources
• criticism

  • Would not be able to account for how the planet has both over-nutrition and food waste in some parts of the country while other parts of the same country suffer from under-nutrition and starvation
• criticism (Overlooked how countries can be interdependent upon each other to regenerate productivity and stimulate economies)

  • His theories cannot account for how current high-income countries can continue to sustain large population size
  • He did not consider international trade, and improved technological capacity