Thomas Robert Malthus Malthu’s essay on population grew out of some discussions which he had with his father respecting the perfectibility of society.

Thomas Robert Malthus was born into a wealthy family on 14 February 1766 at Rookery near Dorking, Surrey. Malthu’s essay on population grew out of some discussions which he had with his father respecting the perfectibility of society. Malthusian theory of population was incorporated into contemporary systems of economics. It

• Acted as a brake on economic optimism
• Helped to justify a theory of wages that made the minimum cost of subsistence of the wage eamer a standard of judgement
• Discouraged traditional forms of charity.