The first major study of population size and its tremendous importance to the character and quality of society, this classic examines the tendency of human numbers to outstrip their resources.

Published in two volumes, these books provide a student audience with an excellent scholarly edition of Malthus' Essay on Population. Written in 1798 as a polite attack on post-French revolutionary speculations on the theme of social and human perfectibility, it remains one of the most powerful statements of the limits to human hopes set by the tension between population growth and natural resources. Based on the authoritative variorum edition of the versions of the Essay published between 1803 and 1826, and complete with full introduction and bibliographic apparatus, this edition is intended to show how Malthusianism impinges on the history of political thought, and how the author's reputation as a population theorist and political economist was established.

Malthus’s Essay on the Principle of Population remains one of the most influential works of political economy ever written. Most widely circulated in its initial 1798 version, this is the first publication of his benchmark 1803 edition since 1989. Introduced by editor Shannon C. Stimson, this edition includes essays on the historical and political theoretical underpinnings of Malthus’s work by Niall O’Flaherty, Malthus’s influence on concepts of nature by Deborah Valenze, implications of his population model for political economy by Sir Anthony Wrigley, an assessment of Malthus’s theory in light of modern economic ideas by Kenneth Binmore, and a discussion of the Essay’s literary and cultural influence by Karen O’Brien. The result is an enlarged view of the political, social, and cultural impact of this profoundly influential work.

Malthus has prepared in this work the general rules of political economy. He calls into question some of the reasonings of Ricardo and attempts to defend Adam Smith.

Malthus' life's work on human population and its dependency on food production and the environment was highly controversial on publication in 1798. He predicted what is known as the Malthusian catastrophe, in which humans would disregard the limits of natural resources and the world would be plagued by famine and disease. He significantly influenced the thinking of Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace and his theories continue to raise important questions today in the fields of social theory, economics and the environment. With an introduction by Robert Mayhew.

(Chapters 18 - 32) See Preview for full table of contents. ""College Biology,"" adapted from OpenStax College's open (CC BY) textbook ""Biology,"" is Textbook Equity's derivative to ensure continued free and open access, and to provide low cost print formats. For manageability and economy, Textbook Equity created three volumes from the original that closely match typical semester or quarter biology curriculum. No academic content was changed from the original. ""The full text (volumes 1 through 3)is designed for multi-semester biology courses for science majors. Instructors can customize the book. Contains Chapter Summaries, Review Questions, Critical Thinking Questions and Answer Keys Download Free Full-Color PDF, too! http: //textbookequity.org/tbq_biology/ Textbook License: CC BY-SA Fearlessly Copy, Print, Remix