Thomas Robert Malthus was influential economist in the fields of political economy and demography. In his 1798 book An Essay on the Principle of Population, Malthus observed that an increase in a nation's food production improved the well-being of the population, but the improvement was temporary because it led to population growth, which in turn restored the original per capita production level. Malthus developed the theory of demand-supply mismatches that he called gluts. Discounted at the time, this theory foreshadowed later work by an admirer, John Maynard Keynes. Malthus laid the theoretical foundation of the conventional wisdom that has dominated the debate, both scientifically and ideologically, on global hunger and famines for almost two centuries. He remains a much-debated writer. Contents: 1. Definitions in Political Economy 2. An Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent, and the Principles by Which It is Regulated 3. The Measure of Value Stated and Illustrated 4. An Essay on the Principle of Population 5. Observations on the Effects of the Corn Laws, and of a Rise or Fall in the Price of Corn on the Agriculture and General Wealth of the Country 6. The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie 7. The Acquisitive Society by R. H. Tawney 8. Political Ideals by Bertrand Russell