A1: Natural Pop. Change (iii)

Thomas Malthus
1. English clergyman and economist born 1766
2. Just over 200 years ago (1798) he produced his work on, "The Principle of Population Growth".
3. He states that population, if left unchecked, would outstrip the available resources.
4. Population increased at a geometric rate (1,2,4,8) whilst food supplies increased at an arithmetic rate (1,2,3,4)
5. If pop. continues to grow it would face inevitable check.
6. Balance can be achieved/ maintained in two ways;
  1. 1. Preventative Checks
    1. Delayed age of marriage, abstinence from sex within marriage
    2. Lower Birth Rate
  2. 2. Positive Checks
    1. Changes in Death Rate
    2. Insufficient food = disease and famine were likely outcomes
7. Limitations
  1. Food shortage; only one explanation for disease and starvation e.g. war and politics
  2. In reality, only the poor go hungry as others have money to buy food
  3. Poverty results from poor distribution of resources not limits on production
  4. The world does not enjoy a far distribution of food supplies
  5. Malthus had no preview of the spectacular changes in farming technology, leading to an increase in agricultural production.
Esther Boserup
1. Danish economist who published her belief in 1965
2. As pop. increases, agriculture moves into higher stages of intensity through innovation and introduction of new farming methods.
3. She believed that pop. would continue to grow until they came close to the carrying capacity and at that point human inventiveness would find a way to avert the crisis and produce more food.
4. An increase in pop. will stimulate technologists to increase food production.
5. Limitations
  1. Based on the assumption of a closed community (no migration)
  2. In over populated areas migration usually occurs to relieve pressure
  3. Overpopulation can lead to unsuitable farming practices which degrade the land.
  4. Fragile environments cannot support excessive numbers of people
  5. Ideas are only applicable at the level of national government
6. Concerns
  1. Potential damage to environment with further population increases
  2. People seeking even higher standards leaving to depletion of resources
  3. Destruction of tropical rainforests - high levels of mineral consumption, global warming and inequalities of living standards between and within communities

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A1: Natural Pop. Change (iii)

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	Created by Rachel Campbell over 11 years ago