MaIthus and his Population Theory: A Re-appraisal

맬더스(Malthus)와 그의 인구론 : 역사적 재조명

The "Dismal Theorem" (Essay) of Maithus is juxtaposed to the utopianism of both Marquis de Condorcet and of William Godwin who believed in the perfectibility of man and of the greater power of civilization over that of population. The socio-political environment that gave birth to the neo-Maltbusianism and of the economic Malthusianism is briefly sketched on, along with the discrepancy between the early theories (1978) of Malthus and the later Malthusian theory; nemely, the biological population principles of his early period runs head-on into his theory of effective demand and underconsumption. Malthus belonged to both the anti-Ricardian and the Ricardian classical tradition, and his attempt to reconcile the anomalies was not very satisfactory. Karl Marx criticized Malthus for his incon-sistent radical conservative theory of population and John Maynard Keynes came to the rescue of this Maltbusian dilemma in the 1930's, with but a morsel of success.f success.