March 2, 2001

Malthus Was Wrong

To the Editor:

Jeffrey K. McKee's essay suggests that family planning is necessary to cut population growth before "all of Malthus's predictions come true" ("Saving the Environment, One [Fewer] Child at a Time," The Review, January 26). As an anthropologist, Professor McKee is apparently unaware that Malthus is not simply a dead economist but a dead-wrong economist. ...

Malthus thought resources (such as food) increased arithmetically while population increased geometrically.