Principles of Political Economy considered with a view to their practical application.

This is a rare or used book from the Berkelouw Rare Books Department.

London: John Murray 1820. Octavo bound in original ribbed cloth with printed paper title-label to spine (covers slightly discoloured). (vi 602pp.). First edition. A particularly good original unsophisticated copy complete and entirely uncut. Desirable despite some non-disturbing foxing. Scare. Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834) was a celebrated English political economist most famous for his population theories (he argued that the population would eventually exceed the world's food supply but for various controls). Aside from his Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) Malthus's Principles was his most significant work. In this work Malthus addresses the broadest issues in political economy and elucidates in particular those points where his opinions diverge from those of his friend and rival David Ricardo (who had published his On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation three years previously). As discussed in the Oxford DNB (2008) Malthus' Principles had little impact at the time though gained considerable ground through the comments of J. M. Keynes in the 1930s: "Keynes argued that Malthus's theory of effective demand provided a scientific explanation of unemployment and that the hundred-year domination of Ricardo over Malthus had been a disaster for the progress of economics. Keynes believed that if economics had followed Malthus instead of being constrained by Ricardo in an artificial groove the world would be a much wiser and richer place. "