Tariffs and Bounties

Abstract

Malthus was concerned that the cultivation of less-fertile land together with the improved exploitation of existing plots might lead to diminishing returns in agriculture and a rising price of food as the population grew. For some time, and it could be for ‘several centuries’, the increasing productivity on the land could exceed the growing demand. In the long run, however, high farming would be no match for the population multiplier. Domestic agriculture should be defended by the State through the Corn Laws and an export bounty. In all his published work Malthus, unlike his fellow liberals, contended that free trade in grain would be incompatible with balanced growth. There is some evidence from the last years of his life that he was becoming increasingly favourable to free trade in grain and not just in manufactures.