In which I digress to answer a question from Matthew Yglesias: Is Thomas Robert Malthus’s argument original, or did it go viral because it was written at the moment it was going wrong? Answer: Yes…

Brad DeLong

Jan 10

6

Now if only I can find a place for this in my book ms….

The question is about how original Thomas Robert Malthus’s argument is—that humanity is doomed by fecundity to poverty, with patriarchy, monarchy, and orthodoxy being the only path to build not a good but a not-totally-horrible society:

<braddelong.substack.com/p/utopia-…>