Saturday, April 7, 2012

Stickman defends Malthus

Posted by dkuehn at 10:56 AM
Here. Good for him! I've always thought people were unfair to him too. I've talked about the "Malthus PR Problem" here, and in a few other cases. I also suggest reading the sections on general gluts in his Principles of Political Economy.

3 comments:

  1. UnlearningeconApril 7, 2012 at 11:21 AM

    Too many good bloggers to follow...

    ReplyDelete
  2. CurrentApril 8, 2012 at 7:40 AM

    I liked the inlay at the bottom. Malthus made the same argument about himself on his tombstone...

    http://www.nd.edu/~sheridan/ThomasMalthusTomb.gif

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 8, 2012 at 8:31 PM

    Best criticism of Malthus:

    "But Malthus! This wretch only draws such conclusions from the given scientific premises (which he invariably steals), as will be ‘agreeable” (useful) to the aristocracy against the bourgeoisie and to both against the proletariat. Hence he does not want production for the sake of production, but only in so far as it maintains or extends the status quo, and serves the interests of the ruling classes.

    Already his first work, one of the most remarkable literary examples of the success of plagiarism at the cost of the original work, had the practical purpose to provide “economic” proof, in the interests of the existing English government and the landed aristocracy that the tendency of the French Revolution and its adherents in England to perfect matters was utopian. In other words, it was a panegyric pamphlet for the existing conditions, against historical development and, furthermore, a justification of the war against revolutionary France."

    -Marx, Theories of Surplus Value

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