Thomas Malthus citations

Thomas Robert Malthus, né près de Guildford le 13 février 1766 et mort à Bath le 29 décembre 1834, est un économiste britannique de l'École classique, et également un prêtre anglican.

Contemporain du décollage industriel anglais, il est surtout connu pour ses travaux sur les rapports entre les dynamiques de croissance de la population et la production, analysés dans une perspective « pessimiste », totalement opposée à l'idée smithienne d'un équilibre harmonieux et stable.

Son nom a donné dans le langage courant un adjectif, « malthusien » souvent négativement connoté , et une doctrine, le malthusianisme qui inclut une politique active de contrôle de la natalité pour maîtriser la croissance de la population. Wikipedia  

✵ 14. février 1766 – 29. décembre 1834
Thomas Malthus photo
Thomas Malthus: 60   citations 0   J'aime

Thomas Malthus: Citations en anglais

“Every exchange which takes place in a country, effects a distribution of its produce better adapted to the wants of society….”

Thomas Robert Malthus Principles of Political Economy

Book II, Chapter I, On the Progress of Wealth, Section VIII, p. 382-383
Principles of Political Economy (Second Edition 1836)
Contexte: Every exchange which takes place in a country, effects a distribution of its produce better adapted to the wants of society....
If two districts, one of which possessed a rich copper mine, and the other a rich tin mine, had always been separated by an impassable river or mountain, there can be no doubt that an opening of a communication, a greater demand would take place, and a greater price be given for both the tin and the copper; and this greater price of both metals, though it might be only temporary, would alone go a great way towards furnishing the additional capital wanted to supply the additional demand; and the capitals of both districts, and the products of both mines, would be increased both in quantity and value to a degree which could not have taken place without the this new distribution of the produce, or some equivalent to it.

“There must therefore be a considerable class of persons who have both the will and power to consume more material wealth then they produce, or the mercantile classes could not continue profitably to produce so much more than they consume.”

Thomas Robert Malthus Principles of Political Economy

Book II, Chapter I, On the Progress of Wealth, Section IX, p. 400 (See also: David Ricardo and aggregate demand)
Principles of Political Economy (Second Edition 1836)
Contexte: But such consumption is not consistent with the actual habits of the generality of capitalists. The great object of their lives is to save a fortune, both because it is their duty to make a provision for their families, and because they cannot spend an income with so much comfort to themselves, while they are obliged perhaps to attend a counting house for seven or eight hours a day...
... There must therefore be a considerable class of persons who have both the will and power to consume more material wealth then they produce, or the mercantile classes could not continue profitably to produce so much more than they consume.

“The greatest talents have been frequently misapplied and have produced evil proportionate to the extent of their powers.”

Source: An Essay on The Principle of Population (First Edition 1798, unrevised), Chapter XIX, paragraph 2, lines 1-6
Contexte: The greatest talents have been frequently misapplied and have produced evil proportionate to the extent of their powers. Both reason and revelation seem to assure us that such minds will be condemned to eternal death, but while on earth, these vicious instruments performed their part in the great mass of impressions, by the disgust and abhorrence which they excited.

“Though I may not be able to in the present instance to mark the limit at which further improvement will stop, I can very easily mention a point at which it will not arrive.”

Source: An Essay on The Principle of Population (First Edition 1798, unrevised), Chapter IX, paragraph 8, lines 14-16

“It is also very important to observe, that menial servants are absolutely necessary to make the resources of the higher and middle classes of society efficient in the demand for material products.”

Thomas Robert Malthus Principles of Political Economy

Book II, Chapter I, On the Progress of Wealth, Section IX, p. 408
Principles of Political Economy (Second Edition 1836)

“In general it may be said that demand is quite as necessary to the increase of capital as the increase of capital is to demand.”

Thomas Robert Malthus Principles of Political Economy

Book II, Chapter I, On the Progress of Wealth, Section IV, p. 349 ( See also; Says Law)
Principles of Political Economy (Second Edition 1836)

“To minds of a certain cast there is nothing so captivating as simplification and generalization.”

Thomas Robert Malthus Principles of Political Economy

Book I, Introduction, p. 5
Principles of Political Economy (Second Edition 1836)

“Had population and food increased in the same ratio, it is probable that man might never have emerged from the savage state.”

Source: An Essay on The Principle of Population (First Edition 1798, unrevised), Chapter XVIII, paragraph 11, lines 16-17

“It is a mere futile process to exchange one set of commodities for another, if the parties; after this new distribution of goods has taken place, are not better off than they were before.”

Thomas Robert Malthus Principles of Political Economy

Book II, Chapter I, On the Progress of Wealth, Section VIII, p. 384
Principles of Political Economy (Second Edition 1836)

“No move towards the extinction of the passion between the sexes has taken place in the five or six thousand years that the world has existed.”

Source: An Essay on The Principle of Population (First Edition 1798, unrevised), Chapter XI, paragraph 1, lines 6-8

“…where are we to look for the consumption required but among the unproductive labourers of Adam Smith?…”

Thomas Robert Malthus Principles of Political Economy

Book II, Chapter I, On the Progress of Wealth, Section IX, p. 406
Principles of Political Economy (Second Edition 1836)

“Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio, Subsistence, increases only in an arithmetical ratio.”

Source: An Essay on The Principle of Population (First Edition 1798, unrevised), Chapter I, paragraph 18, lines 1-2

“If a country can only be rich by running a successful race for low wages, I should be disposed to say at once, perish such riches!”

Thomas Robert Malthus Principles of Political Economy

Book I, Chapter III, Of the Rent of Land, Section IX, p. 214
Principles of Political Economy (Second Edition 1836)

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