Wild finding in a recent econ/history paper: British bureaucrats trained by Thomas Malthus provided less aid during droughts in India than those trained by one of his critics. Thomas Malthus...
Wild finding in a recent econ/history paper: British bureaucrats trained by Thomas Malthus provided less aid during droughts in India than those trained by one of his critics. Thomas Malthus famously theorized the 'Malthusian Trap', which posits (among other things) that famine and social unrest were a natural correction for overpopulation.
Abstract:
Public officials often fail to implement government policy as directed, yet the role of economic ideas in shaping these implementation choices is poorly understood. This paper provides causal evidence that exposure to economic ideas can durably influence bureaucrat behavior. I study British colonial bureaucrats in India, exploiting a natural experiment created by the abrupt death of Thomas Malthus in 1834, replacing his economics instruction at a bureaucrat training college for that of a contemporary critic, Richard Jones. Whereas Malthus regarded economic distress as a natural mechanism for restoring equilibrium by reducing population growth, Jones disagreed with this view. Linking rainfall shocks to district-level fiscal responses, I show that officials trained by Malthus delivered less relief during droughts, providing 0.10-0.25 SD less aid across all major measures compared with officials taught by Jones. The results reveal that exposure to abstract economic ideas can shape real-world policy implementation for decades.
I wonder if the bureaucrat in charge of Irish famine relief, Charles Trevelyan, was trained by Malthus. He famously did not provide sufficient aid, defending instead the idea that the free market...
I wonder if the bureaucrat in charge of Irish famine relief, Charles Trevelyan, was trained by Malthus. He famously did not provide sufficient aid, defending instead the idea that the free market would fix everything.
Wonder no further, they call out Malthus by name in the very Wikipedia page you cited!
Wonder no further, they call out Malthus by name in the very Wikipedia page you cited!
Trevelyan was a student of the economist Thomas Malthus while at Haileybury. His rigid adherence to Malthusian population theory during the Irish famine is often attributed to this formative tutelage.
Wild finding in a recent econ/history paper: British bureaucrats trained by Thomas Malthus provided less aid during droughts in India than those trained by one of his critics. Thomas Malthus famously theorized the 'Malthusian Trap', which posits (among other things) that famine and social unrest were a natural correction for overpopulation.
Abstract:
Hi OP, check your comment for line breaks - on mobile displays, they make the paragraph wrap in odd ways. Eg:
Good shout, hopefully it’s fixed now. The line breaks in academic papers always annoys me when I quote them lol
I wonder if the bureaucrat in charge of Irish famine relief, Charles Trevelyan, was trained by Malthus. He famously did not provide sufficient aid, defending instead the idea that the free market would fix everything.
Wonder no further, they call out Malthus by name in the very Wikipedia page you cited!
Oh goody. So not only was he Malthusian in spirit, he was literally taught by the man and regurgitated his philosophy.
This is an awesome link. Thank you.