The Triumph of Population Growth

Environmental alarmists often repeat the Malthusian warning that human population growth is harmful to the planet and is unsustainable. In contrast, economists are often a bit more optimistic about human population growth. This course examines the relationship between population growth and prosperity, as well as how Austrian and other pro-population economists engaged Malthusian arguments.

Recommended Readings

Barrows, Stephen P. "The Law of Population and the Austrian School.” American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 69(4): 1178 - 1205, October 2010.

Fong, Mei. "One Child: The Story of China’s Most Radical Experiment." Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt, 2016.

Malthus, Thomas R. "An Essay on the Principle of Population," ed., Geoffrey Gilbert. Oxford: Oxford University Press, [1798] 1993.

Sabin, Paul. "The Bet: Paul Ehrlich, Julian Simon, and Our Gamble Over Earth’s Future." New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.