Thomas Robert Malthus

Thomas Robert Malthus (1766 to 1834) was an English economist, Anglican priest and scholar who influenced political economy and demography. In his 1798 book An Essay on the Principle of Population he argued that gains in food production raise well-being only briefly, because they lead to population growth that restores the earlier level of per capita production. This pattern became known as the Malthusian trap. He wrote against the popular eighteenth-century view that society was improving and could in principle be made perfect, held that population grows whenever conditions improve, and saw the resulting hardship as a lesson in virtuous behaviour. He also criticised the Poor Laws for causing inflation rather than helping the poor.