Thomas Malthus

The Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus (February, 1766 – December 23, 1834), who is usually known as Thomas Malthus, although he preferred to be known as "Robert Malthus," was an English demographer and political economist best known for his pessimistic but highly influential views. Although it is popularly assumed that it was these pessimistic views that gave economics the nickname Dismal Science, the phrase was actually coined by the historian Thomas Carlyle in reference to an anti-slavery essay written by John Stuart Mill.

Life

Malthus was born to a prosperous family. His father was a personal friend of the philosopher and sceptic David Hume and an acquaintance of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The young Malthus was educated at home until his admission to Jesus College, Cambridge in 1784. There he studied many subjects and took prizes in English declamation, Latin and Greek. His principal subject was mathematics. He earned a masters degree in 1791 and was elected a fellow of Jesus College two years later. In 1797, he was ordained and became an Anglican country parson.

Related Topics:
David Hume - Jean-Jacques Rousseau - Jesus College, Cambridge - 1784 - Latin - Greek - Mathematics - 1791 - 1797 - Anglican

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Malthus married in 1804; he and his wife had 3 children. In 1805 he became Britain's (and possibly the world's) first professor in political economy at the East India Company College at Haileybury in Hertfordshire. Here, he developed a theory of demand supply mismatches which he called gluts. Considered ridiculous at the time, his theory was later confirmed by the Great Depression and works of John Maynard Keynes.

Related Topics:
1804 - 1805 - East India Company College - Haileybury - Hertfordshire - Gluts - Great Depression - John Maynard Keynes

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Malthus refused to have his portrait done until 1833 because of embarrassment over a cleft palate, a birth defect common in his family. The deformity was well hidden by the artist.

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Malthus was buried at Bath Abbey in England.

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