ENV S 3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: The Dismal Science, Robert Heilbroner, Thomas Robert Malthus
15 May 2018
➢ Thomas Malthus
➢ Robert Heilbroner
➢ A Essay o the Priciple of Populatio Malthus’s essay
➢ As It Affects the Future
➢ Improvement of Society (1798)
➢ Doubling
➢ Poverty, scarcity
➢ Thomas Carlyle
➢ The disal sciece
➢ Economic scale
➢ Green Revolution
➢ Applied technology
➢ Birth Control
➢ ZPG movement, Paul Ehrlich
➢ Ecological economists
● Malthus believed that the increasing population would mean a vicious cycle>crisis
point, outstrips the resources limits such as food supply, would cause disastrous
outcomes---essay*
● Doubling---2,4,8,16...>geometric increase=lead to cyclical disaster because supplies
ca’t keep up
● There will always be poverty because they will never be able to get ahead because they
had too many children for their income
● Resource scarcity=there ill alays be scarcity because there o’t be eough for
everyone to satisfy what they need
● Workig class ca’t costrai theseles
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● Set the stage for population studies-important to environmental studies
● Thoas Carlyle gae the ae the disal sciece to ecooics
● How much is there to get? The idea of economic scale
● Are we living beyond our means? yes ; is it sustainable? No;
● The future of the world developing-cyclical>too many people, starvation, scarcity,
death;
● Green Revolution
○ Made marginal land arable through irrigation
○ Put more land into production
○ Increased per acre yield of land
○ Applied technology-stalled the idea that resources will be stripped
● Birth Control-another factor that cut down on doubling; slowed population growth
David Ricardo
➢ Workers, capitalists, landlords
➢ sheep , dogs, pigs
➢ The escalator analogy
➢ The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817)
➢ Rent, wages, profits
➢ Corn Laws (tariffs)
➢ Distribution
➢ Government intervention
➢ Profit maximization
➢ Lower wages
➢ Lower standards
➢ Lower environmental safeguards
➢ Economic determination
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