Economic and Policy Insights:
Impact on Economics and Policy in Malthusian Theory.
"The great and unlooked for discoveries that have taken place
of late years have all concurred to lead many men into the opinion
that we were touching on a period big with the most important changes."
- Malthusian population theory refers to population growth that will eventually outstrip the rsources available to sustain it, resulting in poverty, famine, and diseases. Even though it is not applicable in some situations, especially in developed economies, we cannot disregard it completely, because theory has had a significant impact on economics and policy, both historically and in modern times.
- His argument on increase in population growth over time, which eventually leads to problem of disapproved by historical demographic data from the western world was also false. Instead, the population tends to decrease as these economies grow. Parenting becomes a duty, and the need to give each kid quality life becomes the priority. This enables people to maintain small families. Most people care about maintaining a high standard of living than having large families. The free adoption of contraceptives in the west has led to a reduced birth rate, contrary to Malthus's prediction.
- Particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries, many government policies were influenced by Malthusian population theory due to the rapid growth of the global population. Policymakers consider and justify the positive checks and negative checks of the theory. For example, most of the developed countries that struggle with high populations apply the Malthusian population theory in order to control overpopulation like China (One Child Concept), Norway, etc.
- As well as the United States of America implemented a series of immigration laws in the 20th century that restricted immigration from certain countries including those with high birth rates. That caused a need to rethink the high population of those countries.
- This theory highly suggests that population growth could have negative economic consequences that have been further developed by neo-Malthusians and ecological economists who argued that economic growth must be balanced with environmental sustainability. Those ideas have a significant impact on policymaking and implementation even today.
- He argued that “the principles of saving, pushed to excess, would destroy the motive to production.” To maximize wealth, a nation had to balance “the power to produce and the will to consume.” Those concepts are being used in policy-making and decision-making even today.
- Since it can be applicable even today, we cannot completely ignore the Malthusian theory. Policymakers can study and make decisions by considering those concepts against the problems happening at present.
Written by: R.
Yalini & Pirunthapana
References:
- COHN, D. (2015, September 30). Pew Research Center. Retrieved from https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2015/09/30/how-u-s-immigration-laws-and-rules-have-changed-through-history/
- Dunleavey, M. (n.d.). Britannica Money. Retrieved from Britannica Money: https://www.britannica.com/money/talking-about-money
- Study.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://homework.study.com/explanation/explain-thomas-malthus-s-theory-of-population-and-what-implications-it-had-for-malthusian-ricardian-political-economy-in-what-aspects-of-the-theory-did-malthus-turn-out-to-be-wrong-and-why-even-though-he-argued-that-
No comments:
Post a Comment