Perhaps one of the most persistent and pervasive myths that have
shaped the thinking of many people and, subsequently, public
policy is the myth that the world’s population is spiraling out
of control and that it will ultimately lead to catastrophic
shortages of the essential resources necessary to sustain life.
This whole concept of “overpopulation” can be traced to Thomas
Malthus, the British scholar and Anglican clergyman (albeit a
very misguided one) who, without any specific knowledge other
than his own speculations, predicted in 1789 that the planet’s
rapid increase in population would soon outstrip the planet’s
ability to produce food, resulting in massive worldwide
starvation. Malthus’s predicted famine never materialized, of
course; he could not have predicted the industrial revolution or
the enormous impact subsequent technological innovations would
have on our ability to produce food. Recall that today our
federal government actually pays farmers not to grow crops due
to the abundance of food produ