In his 1798 book, Essays on the Principle of Population , Thomas Malthus argued
ID: 1228315 • Letter: I
Question
In his 1798 book, Essays on the Principle of Population, Thomas Malthus argued that human population increases much faster than production, especially food production. Therefore, population growth would lead to poverty, starvation, and ultimately, death. In his 1981 book, The Ultimate Resource, Julian Simon believed Malthus was wrong. Simon argued that population is the solution to, not the cause of, resource scarcities as people innovate, developing new alternatives. Two economics students are arguing about growth and productivity, one in favor of Malthus’ view and the other in favor of Simon’s view. Determine which of the answer choices is correct.
Nancy: “Malthus is correct. If population growth is greater than the growth in output, then our real GDP per capita will be lower, reducing our standard of living.”
Nina: “No, Simon is correct. With more population comes more innovations, which increases productivity. This increases output faster than population growth, thus enhancing our standard of living.”
A. Only Nancy gives a correct explanation.
B. Only Nina gives a correct explanation.
C. Both Nancy and Nina give correct explanations.
D. Neither Nancy nor Nina gives a correct explanation.
Explanation / Answer
A. Only Nancy gives a correct explanation.
This is because, per capita GDP is output or GDP per individual.
So, when population growth is higher than output growth, GDP per capita falls or lower, as a result standard of living falls.
In the explanation given by Nina, we cannot surely asserts that innovation will comes from increases in population.