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Malthusian Economy

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The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics

Abstract

The Malthusian economy was the economic system that characterized almost all economies before the industrial revolution. In this regime fertility and mortality rates at different material income levels determined the average real income level and life expectancy at birth. Thus before 1800 the improvement of production technologies resulted only in population growth, and not in any gains in material living conditions beyond those that were found in the original hunter gatherer societies.

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Bibliography

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Clark, G. (2018). Malthusian Economy. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2599

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