Resources against Malthusianism

Perhaps the biggest change in growth scepticism in the three years since I started writing this blog is the more overt character of Malthusianism. Openly expressing fears about overpopulation has become a mainstream preoccupation rather than confined to the fringes. Best-selling authors such as Thomas Friedman and Jeffrey Sachs have no compunction about talking about the supposed dangers of a crowded world.

On the United Nations World Population Day it is good to note there are voices opposing this reactionary shift. These include:

* Brendan O’Neill’s recent article on spiked on the myth of an overcrowded world. The piece also links to other spiked articles on a similar theme.

* Worldwrite’s Worldbytes two items on overpopulation in its latest programme.

* My Engineers Against Poverty debate (PDF) with the Optimum Population Trust in 2007 (see page 3).

* Frank Furedi’s book on Population and Development