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Malthus and  Boserup AP Human Geography Malthus and  Boserup AP Human Geography

Malthus and Boserup AP Human Geography - PowerPoint Presentation

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Malthus and Boserup AP Human Geography - PPT Presentation

Population and Migration Unit Thomas Malthus Ester Boserup Malthus Malthus believed that there was a finite optimum population in relation to food supply and that an increase beyond that point would lead to a decline in living standards and to war famine and disease ID: 651203

food population growth malthus population food malthus growth increases increase supply approach boserup stages land economic marriage war famine

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Slide1

Malthus and Boserup

AP Human GeographyPopulation and Migration Unit

Thomas Malthus

Ester

BoserupSlide2

Malthus

Malthus believed that there was a finite optimum population in relation to food supply and that an increase beyond that point would lead to a decline in living standards and to war, famine and disease

.An increase in the population above the optimum limit would therefore lead to war, famine and disease

.Slide3

A PESSIMISTIC approach

Thomas Malthus (1798) proposed his work during the early stages of the industrial revolution

when inadequate food and clothing were common features in England.His argument was that population increases (geometrically) or at an exponential rate if unchecked i.e. 1-2-4-8-16-32 etcFood supply at best increases at an arithmetic rate i.e.1-2-3-4-5-6 etcSlide4

Thomas Malthus (aka Tommy Malt)

Population Growth

Food

Growth

Today1 person1 unitT + 252 persons

2 units

T + 50

4 persons

3 units

T + 75

8 persons

4 unitsT + 10016 persons5 units

English economist

Essay on the Principle

of Population

, 1798

Population

Geometric/Exponential

growth

Food supply

Arithmetic growthSlide5

A PESSIMISTIC approach

Malthus suggested that a rise in population, however small, would mean that eventually population growth exceeded increases in food supply and that yields from a given field could not go on increasing forever and that the land available is finite.

He believed the population-resource balance was maintained by various ‘checks’:Slide6

Negative

(preventative) checks are methods of limiting population growth

: e.g. celibacy, delaying marriage which lower fertility rates

He noted that there was a correlation between wheat prices and marriage rates i.e. wheat price increases marriage rates decrease (C18th)

Positive checks (decrease in population size due to): famine, war, diseases i.e. anything which increases mortality and decreases life expectancy.Carrying capacities can relate to ecosystems and humans.Rapid economic growth can impede economic development by exacerbating social and economic problems.

A

PESSIMISTIC

approachSlide7

Malthus on population:

“Instead of recommending cleanliness to the poor, we should encourage contrary habits. In our towns we should make the streets narrower, crowd more people into the houses, and court the return of the plague. In the country we should build our villages near stagnant pools, and particularly encourage settlements in all marshy and unwholesome situations. But above all, we should reprobate specific remedies for ravaging diseases: and those benevolent, but much mistaken men, who have thought they were doing a service to mankind by projecting schemes for the total extirpation of particular disorders. If by these and similar means the annual mortality were increased ... we might probably every one of us marry at the age of puberty and yet few be absolutely starved.”Slide8

How was Malthus right?

Population has been rising quicklyLimited use of contraceptives (DTM stages 2 and early 3)

Population has outgrown food Farm land to urban land, environmental degradation, life-supporting crops to cash crops, climate changes decrease food production

Neo-MalthusiansSupporters of Malthusian theory today. Concern today is not just food but air, energy, water, and space.Slide9

How was Malthus wrong?

Population hasn’t grown exponentiallyExpanded use of contraceptives

Demographic Transition Model stages 4 and 5Political, economic, cultural decisions that limit growthFood supply grew faster than predicted

New technologies made farmers far more efficient (mechanization, chemicals, irrigation, etc.)Green Revolution (genetically modified, improved seedsFood preservation and distribution

Highways, refrigeration, containerization Slide10

An OPTIMISTIC approach

Ester Boserup

(1965) suggested that an increase in population would stimulate technologists to increase food production.It followed that a rise in population will increase demand for food and therefore act as an incentive to modify technology to produce more food. In other words,

“Necessity is the mother of invention”.As population increases agriculture moves into higher stages of intensity with new methods.Slide11

An OPTIMISTIC approach

Followers of Boserup argue that food production is much more optimistic

than that of a Malthusian, as she claims that food supplies will stay ahead of population growth.Innovations such as the ‘Green Revolution’ introduced high-yield seeds to LDCs who witnessed increased yields from these processes allowing more people to be fed.Slide12

Limitations of Boserups theory

Based on closed communities, which apart from the globe, is not the case as migration occurs.Therefore difficult to test these ideas as migration occurs in areas of over-population to relieve population pressure, which according to

Boserups’s theory leads to technological innovation.Also Over-population can lead to unsustainable farming practices which may degrade the land e.g. desertification in the Sahel.