Pre malthusian thiories
Before the publication of Thomas Malthus's \"An Essay on the Principle of Population\" in 1798, Pre-Malthusian theories on population and economic growth were less formalized and lacked the systematic analytical approach that Malthus introduced. However, there were various thinkers and sources of wisdom that touched on the subject of population size and its relationship with resources and social conditions. Some of the notable concepts that predate Malthus's work are:\n\n1. **Plato** (c. 428/427–348/347 BC): In Plato's ideal society, as described in \"The Republic,\" there are suggestions of population control where the state should maintain a certain population size to ensure harmony and sufficient resources for its citizens.\n\n2. **Aristotle** (384–322 BC): Aristotle in \"Politics\" reflected upon the size of the city-state, arguing that it should neither be too large nor too small but rather sufficient to lead to a life of quality and self-sufficiency.\n\n3. **Confucianism**: Ancient Chinese philosophy, notably that of Confucius (551–479 BC), often emphasized the significance of social stability and harmony. While not directly addressing population economics, there is an implicit understanding of the need for balanced relations between people and resources.\n\n4. **Mercantilism** (16th to 18th centuries): Mercantilists believed that a larger population was an asset because it meant more workers to manufacture goods and more consumers to buy them. They saw a large population as a driver of economic power.\n\n5. **Physiocracy** (18th century): The Physiocrats, a group of French economists, believed that the wealth of a nation was derived from the value of land and its natural resources. Although they did not focus on population as a central theme in their economic theory, they acknowledged the importance of a productive agricultural base to sustain a population.\n\n6. **Roman writers**: Some Roman philosophers and statesmen, observing the decline of the Roman Empire, noted the role that population levels and fertility played in the vitality of the state.\n\nThomas Malthus's work was revolutionary because it presented a systematic theory that suggested that population growth would always tend to outstrip the growth of resources, leading to inevitable checks such as famine, disease, and war. Prior to this, the relationship between population and resources was recognized but not rigorously formulated in the way that Malthus did, making his work a turning point in the demographic and economic thought.