Malthusian catastrophe, sometimes known as a Malthusian check, Malthusian crisis, Malthusian dilemma, Malthusian disaster, Malthusian trap, or Malthusian limit is a return to
subsistence-level conditions as a result of
agricultural (or, in later formulations,
economic)
production being eventually outstripped by growth in
population. Theories of Malthusian catastrophe are very similar to the
subsistence theory of wages. The main difference is that the Malthusian theories predict over several generations or centuries whereas the subsistence theory of wages predicts over years and decades.
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