Thomas Robert Malthus (1766 -1834) was an influential economist in the fields of political economy and demography.

Thomas Robert Malthus (1766 -1834) was an influential economist in the fields of political economy and demography.

In his 1798 book An Essay on the Principle of Population, Malthus observed that a food production increase improved the general 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.

This has been known as the "Malthusian trap". Malthus’ analysis is one of the first ‘socioeconomic analyses’ to connect economic growth and well-being conditions.