Optimum Population: An Introduction

The Malthusian threat of overpoulation has inspired many writers ever since Thomas Robert Malthus’ “Essay on the Principle of Population” appeared in 1798 (and 1830). Because the Malthusian framework is basically economic, the population question has always attracted many economists. Malthus hypothesised that families procreate to the point where they are living at the level of subsistence. “Before that a large and increasing population was generally favored; since that date it has never creased to be looked upon by some doubt and with fear.… Before Malthus the criterion was the prosperity of the sovereign and of the ruling classes; thereafter it became the welfare of the increasing masses.” (Fetter, 1913, p. 4)