What is the Malthusian Doctrine and how does the theory of diminishing marginal returns agree with this doctrine?

The Malthusian Doctrine, also known as the Malthusian Theory of population, was developed by an English economist named Thomas Malthus. Malthus argued that because there are limits to resources (such as land for farming), human population growth will inevitably lead to starvation, poverty, and even societal collapse if left unchecked. The core idea behind the Malthusian Doctrine is that population growth has the potential to outstrip the ability of an economy to produce enough resources to sustain itself, leading to a decline in human well-being.

The theory of diminishing marginal returns (also known as the law of diminishing returns) suggests that as more and more resources are allocated to a particular factor of production (such as labor or capital), the additional output or benefit received from using an extra unit of the resource will decrease over time. In other words, increasing the quantity of a specific factor of production while holding other factors constant will eventually result in smaller and smaller increases in output.

The theory of diminishing marginal returns aligns with the Malthusian Doctrine in that both recognize the limitations of resources, and how these limitations can cause problems when the population continues to grow or when a factor of production is overused. In the case of the Malthusian Doctrine, as the population grows, the ability of the economy to sustain that growth also diminishes due to the limited resources available, causing a decrease in well-being. This decrease in overall well-being can also be related to the diminishing marginal returns, as more and more resources are required to produce enough food, the additional output for each resource decrease, making it more difficult to provide for the growing population. In conclusion, the Malthusian Doctrine and the theory of diminishing marginal returns both highlight the limitations of resources in relation to population growth and factors of production, emphasizing the potential consequences of neglecting these limitations.